Fight breaks out between Dalit groups at grievances redressal meeting

September 14, 2011

Udupi, September 14: Division among the Dalit groups in Udupi districts came to fore when two rival groups took two opposite stands on the presence of media persons at the district level Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes grievances redressal meeting, convened by the Deputy Commissioner here on Wednesday.

This is the first time in last four years a DC in Udupi convened the SC/ST redressal meeting.

At the beginning of the meet, DC M T Reju, instructed the media persons to keep away from the grievances meet, as it is a purely official meet and not a public meet.

At this juncture, Jayan Malpe, District Convener of Karnataka Dalit Sangharsha Samithi, supported by DSS (Ambedkar-Vaad), DSS (Prof. Krishnappa founded), and Samatha Sainik Dal opposed the DC's decision to keep out the media from the meet.

As Uday Kumar Tallur of DSS (Bheem-Vaad) opposed Jayan's stand and opposed the presence of the media, the meet plunged into turmoil.

DC said that the meeting was convened in the wake of the allegations that SC/ST grievance meet was not called for long. It was organised to solve some of the issues concerning Dalits, which remained unnoticed and unsolved.

He said that five Dalit representatives had only been invited from each of the Dalit organisations to the meet.

Out of the six Dalit groups present at the grievance meet all had their own argument between themselves over various issues. Argument by Uday Tallur that government employees belonging to Dalit communities cannot attend the grievances meet, added fuel to the rage as Jayan was an employee of a nationalized bank.

Dalit leader Narayana Manur demanded justification from the DC.

As the war of words continued SP and other police officials intervened. Mr Reju adjourned the meet due to the presence of the media and warring Dalit groups.

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Block, district presidents in Karnataka will be changed soon: KPCC working president

News Network

September 14,2024

Mangaluru: The block level and District Congress Committee presidents in the state will be changed in the next one month for better reach into society and bring in organisational fortification, said Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee working president G C Chandrasheker on Saturday.

The All India Congress Committee and KPCC have a vision for bringing a change in how the party works with the last man and woman in the state, he said at a press conference here.

"We are looking at bringing development models into the state with a new vision. We are a party that likes to work with the opposition in the developmental aspects and keep all other matters away that do not relate to the development of the state.

"We have a great respect for the people of the coast who are considered to be forward-looking and perceptible, but it is also true that we do not have the numbers in the upper house and in the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)," he said.

"Our endeavour is to not only create a strong pro-development workforce at the base level by strengthening the second and third level leadership in the state," he said.

Chandrasheker, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, said that he and his four colleagues of the rank of working presidents of the KPCC are going to every district to infuse the new thinking in our workers and leaders.

"This move will get a new surge considering the party is facing byelections in Shiggaon, Chennapatna and Sandhur segments and also vacant seats in the legislative council, followed by elections to the Urban Local Bodies and Panchayats" he said.

When asked about the reason for the changes, Chandrashekar said most of the people have already lived their tenures. The party wants to reward those who have not been given tickets to contest in the 2023 state assembly elections and 2024 Lok Sabha elections for political reasons.

There are quite good leaders and hard-working ground level workers who have great potential to lead the party in the coming years, he said.

"Women will get at least one top post in all District Congress Committees and block levels. There is also a move to give responsible positions for the workers and leaders coming from different strata of society, which are deliverable. The party will not shy away from it," he said.

The other two working presidents, Dr Manjunath Bhandary and Vasanth Kumar, were also present at the press conference.

Kumar said some of the regions in the state are dominated by the BJP. "We want to end this run and defeat the divisive models of the BJP." Bhandary said the Indian National Congress was aiming at a high development phase in the state and involve the opposition parties and their leaders in the development plans in the state.

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