Manda Krishna Madiga accused Andhra Pradesh Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan of 'insulting a Dalit woman minister in public'.
Published Nov 07, 2024 | 8:35 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 07, 2024 | 8:35 AM
Manda Krishna Madiga (Supplied)
Incensed over Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pavan Kalyan’s outburst against Home Minister Anita Vangalapudi, Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS) founder-president Manda Krishna Madiga said the actor-politician has insulted the community.
Addressing a meeting at his constituency, Pithapuram, on Monday, 4 November, Kalyan censured Anita for being “complacent” in the face of rising crimes against women and warned her that he would take over the Home portfolio if the minister did not act appropriately.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday, 5 November, Krishna Madiga said, “Pawan has humiliated our Madiga bidda in public. We will keep this in mind,” he said, and wondered how Kalyan would feel if any other minister in the TDP spoke ill of his performance.
He wondered how Kalyan could blame Anita for the deterioration in law and order when the subject was under the chief minister.
“Doesn’t Pawan Kalyan know that by targeting the Home Minster, he was, in fact, training his guns on the chief minister? If he had reservations about Anita’s performance as Home Minister, he should have taken up the issue with the chief minister in the Cabinet meeting.
“It is the right place since the Cabinet is more or less like a family. But censuring Anita at a public meeting was unwarranted and only showed how much respect he had for a Madiga woman,” Krishna Madiga said.
Krishna Madiga’s statement came a day ahead of Kalyan’s meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. According to sources, Shah had asked for a meeting to ask the Jana Sena leader not to upset the NDA apple cart in Andhra Pradesh with his intemperate outbursts.
Incidentally, Krishna Madiga’s condemnation of Kalyan’s verbal assault has added a new dimension to the crisis as the Dalit leader shares a bond with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Ahead of the Telangana Assembly elections, the prime minister flew down to Hyderabad in November and took part in a meeting organised by the Dalit leader for sub-categorisation of the SCs.
Krishna Madiga, taking Kalyan head-on, said his MRPS was against the Jana Sena chief from the beginning. He said that Kalyan as part of an alliance with the TDP took 21 seats of which three were reserved for the SCs.
He recalled urging Kalyan to allot one of them to a Madiga but all of them went to Malas because he was afraid of hurting them. The Railway Koduru constituency in Kadapa district could have been given to a Madiga as the population of the community members was higher, but he did not.
“Even that seat went to a Mala,” he said.
The Madiga leader described Kalyan as one he had the least regard as one who would ensure social justice. If he was really serious, he should be one of Jana Sena’s three Cabinet seats to a BC, SC or ST.
“He took one, which is fine, and gave another to N Manohar which too is appropriate because he was with him through his thick and thin. But he should have given the third Cabinet post to a BC, SC or ST but he did not,” Krishna Madiga said.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
