Congress: Kovind is anti-minority

Telangana PCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Friday said that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has done injustice to the minorities by supporting the NDA’s Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind who opposed reservations for minorities.

Speaking to the media at Gandhi Bhavan on Friday, Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy said that earlier Mr Kovind had rejected the Ranganath Mishra Committee report that had recommended 10 per cent reservations for Muslim minorities and 5 per cent reservations for Christians in government jobs.

Criticising Mr Rao for supporting such a person, the TPCC chief appealed to TRS MPs to vote according to their conscience in the Presidential elections.

Meanwhile, former Union minister S. Jaipal Reddy said that the Presidential election was not a contest between two people, but Opposition candidate Meira Kumar symbolises the pure Constitutional sprit while Mr Kovind is an anonymous person.

He said that he never knew Mr Kovind though the latter was a two-time MP.

Mr Jaipal Reddy alleged that Mr Kovind learned political lessons from RSS.

He said it would be dangerous for such a person to be the President.

He said Ms Kumar is not just the daughter of Jagjivan Ram but is also personally talented.

Elsewhere, Leader of the Opposition in the TS Legislative Council Mohd. Ali Shabbir said that the time has come for the TRS to express its gratitude for Telangana and redeem its commitment to promoting Dalits in public life by backing the UPA’s Presidential candidate.

Mr Shabbir Ali said that Ms Kumar was chosen by 17 parties and appealed to Mr Rao to see through the political game of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP and defeat the designs of the Hindu zealots by withdrawing support to the NDA candidate.