Adivasi unions cry foul, say non-tribal posing as Adivasi won MPTC poll in Vizag
The Joint Action Committee (JAC), representing all Adivasi unions and associations in the state, has alleged that a non-tribal claiming to be an Adivasi contested the recent Parishad elections and won. He is also vying for the post of mandal parishad president.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 21 Sep 2021 2:26 PM GMT
Visakhapatnam: The Joint Action Committee (JAC), representing all Adivasi unions and associations in the state, has alleged that a non-tribal claiming to be an Adivasi contested the recent Parishad elections and won. He is also vying for the post of mandal parishad president.
JAC convener Ramarao Dora said that initially, the government had reserved six mandals for BCs and five for general for the Parishad elections. After the JAC took up the issue with Chief Minister Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy, all mandals were reserved for Scheduled Tribes.
He alleged that with the support of Paderu MLA K. Bhagyalakshmi, a non-tribal contested the MPTC post and won. The candidate, Badugu Ramesh, belonged to Gouda community from East Godavari but got the certificate as Adivasi. His father had three wives, one of whom was a tribal. Mr. Ramesh contested from Koyyuru mandal.
Mr. Dora said that earlier a complaint was lodged with RDO against Mr. Ramesh for his bogus tribal status and an inquiry was pending with the Koyyuru tahsildar. Yet, he was allowed to contest the elections though an inquiry was pending against him, Mr. Dora said.
Mr. Ramesh had gathered all the MPTCs and approached Paderu MLA requesting her to make him the mandal Parishad president, the JAC member alleged.
In the second case, Mr. Dora said Jalli Babulu was made president of YSRCP in Koyyuru mandal. He was born to a Muslim father and an Adivasi mother. The family was from Nellore and had settled in the Agency area. On a complaint from JAC, a case has been filed in the district but was pending due to the pandemic, Mr. Dora added.
"The government should weed out all these bogus tribals so that the benefits can reach genuine Adivasis," the JAC convener said and added that an action plan would be drawn at the general body meeting of Adivasis being held in Paderu on 23 September.
