Uttam welcomes SC decision on defections

Hyderabad, Nov 8 (INN): Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has strongly condemned the TRS Government for not clearing the Fee Reimbursement dues of over 14 lakh students in the State.

Addressing a hugely attended students' rally "Vidyarthi Garjana", organised by National Students Union of India, at Mahabubnagar on Tuesday, the TPCC President said that the Fee Reimbursement dues were not cleared despite giving several assurances. "This clearly shows that either Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is not serious on clearing the dues or the State's Exchequer is completely empty,' he said.

Uttam Kumar Reddy slammed the Chief Minister for not responding to the ongoing protest by lakhs of students and their parents who are demanding immediate payment of Fee Reimbursement dues which are pending for the last two years. Further, families of nearly 2.5 lakh staff of private colleges are almost starving due to non-payment of salaries for the last 4-6 months. "KCR has been cheating the innocent students and already suffering staff of private colleges," he alleged.

The TPCC chief resolved that the Congress workers would not rest until State Government clears entire dues of nearly Rs. 3,000 crore towards Fee Reimbursement dues. "KCR neither honoured the promise which he made in the State Assembly nor did he show any seriousness in implementing the decision taken by his own cabinet. He is simply not interested in students' affairs and playing with their lives and careers. He is proving to be a Chief Minister only for contractors and middle-men who could fetch him commissions," he alleged.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Fee Reimbursement scheme was launched by the previous Congress regime to ensure that poorest of poor students get higher education. However, he alleged that the TRS Government has completely sabotaged the scheme and deliberately stopped payments to discourage poor students from continuing their studies. He said that entire education sector in Telangana was in doldrums.

Welcoming the Supreme Court's decision to refer the issue of legislators' defections to the Constitutional Bench, the TPCC Chief said that the verdict clearly shows that KCR was wrong in making MPs, MLAs and MLCs of other parties defect to TRS fold. He said that the Supreme Court has rightly questioned on what should be done if the Speaker was unreasonably delaying a decision and if the defections were not as per the law. He hoped that the Constitution Bench of Supreme Court would guve3 a landmark decision against the defectors so as to prevent this morally incorrect and Constitutionally illegal activity in future. By encouraging large scale defections, he said KCR had set a wrong precedent in the new State of Telangana.

The meeting was also addressed by party MLAs D.K. Aruna, G. Chinna Reddy, NSUI National President Amrita Dhwaj, TPCC Vice-President Dr. Mallu Ravi, DCC President Obaidullah Kotwal, Municipal Chairman Radha Amar and other senior leaders.