Telangana PCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy, MP Renuka Chowdary, working president Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and A. Revanth Reddy at the Congress public meeting at Yellandu on Monday. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday launched a blistering attack on the TRS government accusing it of betraying Singareni coal workers including contract labourers, undermining the rights of Podu cultivators, and subjugating Dalits, tribals and underprivileged sections. He was addressing a massive public meeting in Yellandu, the birthplace of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), on Monday night to mark the arrival of the Congress party’s Praja Chaitanya Bus Yatra in the coal town. Taking a dig at the TRS leadership, he said the ruling party would witness the wrath of people of Yellandu for encouraging ‘defections.’ “Yellandu MLA Koram Kankaiah, who got elected as the legislator from the ST reserved constituency with the hard work of thousands of party cadres on the Congress ticket in the 2014 general elections, switched his loyalties to the TRS out of sheer opportunism,” he charged, warning the TRS of facing a rout in the next elections for “abetting defections.” The TRS government earned notoriety for unleashing repression against the tribal farmers by driving them away from their “podu lands” on the pretext of Haritha Haram, he charged, asserting that the Congress-led governments in the past distributed pattas to thousands of tribals on podu lands as per the provisions of the Forest Rights Act. Tribal farmers were handcuffed for raising their voice against low price for their chilli produce in Khammam, Dalit youths were subjected to third degree torture in Sircilla district, and countless incidents of atrocities were perpetrated against marginalised sections under the present regime in last three and a half years, Mr. Reddy observed. Ravi Babu, a Dalit municipal commissioner, was manhandled by the TRS local leaders and subsequently transferred from Yellandu for filing a complaint against the latter over a year ago, he said. The Congress will register a resounding victory whenever the elections are held as people are disgusted with the present dispensation and looking forward to the Congress which has a proven track record in upholding social justice, he affirmed. Mr. Reddy vowed to regularise the services of over 20,000 Singareni contract workers, implement dependent employment scheme for the eligible SCCL workers, and address the long-pending issues of the dismissed employees. Rajya Sabha member Renuka Chowdary, TPCC working president Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Congress Legislative Council Leader Mohd. Shabbir Ali, deputy leader P. Sudhakar Reddy, former M.P. V. Hanumantha Rao, MLA Revanth Reddy and others spoke.

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