YS Jagan’s social justice: BCs, SCs, STs get lion’s share in YSRCP’s MLC nominations

AMARAVATI: Demonstrating yet again Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s commitment for social justice, the YSRCP on Monday announced its candidates for the 18 vacant MLC seats by according highest priority to the BCs, SCs and STs.

YSRCP General Secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy announced his party’s nominees for the 18 vacant seats in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council. Seven of these candidates were nominated under the MLAs constituency while nine others were chosen as part of the Local Bodies constituency. Two others were nominated under the Governor’s constituency.

Of the 18 candidates announced by the YSRCP on Monday, 11 belong to the Backward Classes (BCs), two to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and one to Scheduled Tribes (STs). The remaining four candidates belong to Other Castes (OCs).

With the latest announcement, the number of YSRCP’s BC MLCs will go up to 19 while the OC MLCs of the party will increase to 14.

With a strong majority of 150 seats in the State Assembly leaving no stake-holding scope for the TDP that has 23 MLAs, the election of the YSRCP candidates is only a mere formality in the MLAs quota.

Speaking on the occasion, Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said that the latest MLC candidates list once again proved the fact that the YSRCP Government was fully committed to social justice through the upliftment of the downtrodden sections. The list was finalised after due consultations with the Chief Minister, who is also the party president, and other senior leaders of the party, he added.

While claiming that his Government had accorded far better priority to the BCs, SCs and STs in comparison with the previous TDP regime, Ramakrishna Reddy asserted that it was the vision of YS Jaganmohan Reddy, not merely to honour with decorative positions, but also to make all the sections of the society a part of power and governance.

Giving a comparative analysis on the MLC seat distribution during the present YSRCP government and the previous TDP rule, he said that Chandrababu Naidu favoured as many as 30 OC candidates with Council seats out of a total of 48 MLC nominations. Only 18 candidates from the SC, ST, BC and Minority communities were sent to the Council, he said.

Whereas, the YSRCP accorded maximum priority to these sections with 18 out of the total 31 seats that fell vacant since it assumed power in Andhra Pradesh, Ramakrishna Reddy claimed. While the nominations for the non-OC categories amounted to only 37.5 percent in the TDP rule, the same was 67 percent under the current YSRCP dispensation, he added.

“With little exaggeration in words, our party has remained committed to social justice and empowerment, as we have been maintaining right from the beginning,” Ramakrishna Reddy asserted.

Below is the list of YSRCP MLC candidates nominated under various categories: