HYDERABAD, Oct 3: Andhra Pradesh government's decision to promulgate a fresh ordinance to categorise Scheduled Castes for securing reservation in education and employment is snowballing into a major controversy with Mala Mahanadu, the apex body of Mala community of SCs, opposed to categorisation, threatening to intensify its agitation on the issue.Speaking to reporters here today, the president of Mala Mahanadu P V Rao said they would intensify its agitation from October 5, seeking dismissal of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for allegedly trying to divide SCs on the basis of classification.Rao said they had asked Governor Dr C Rangarajan to return the proposed ordinance of the State Government for reconsideration and alleged that Naidu was trying to gain political mileage by reissuing an ordinance which was earlier struck down by the high court and rejected by the national commission for SC and STs.The State cabinet's recent decision to issue a fresh ordinance within a week categorising SCs intoA, B, C, D groups for the purpose of extending reservation first to the less advantaged sections among them in education and employment comes in the wake of four-year long agitation by Madigas - the numerically strong community among SCs - in support of categorisation.Meanwhile, the Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS), spearheading the agitation in support of categorisation of SCs, hailed the Cabinet decison to issue an ordinance saying it signified a moral victory for them.The MRPS state convenor Kripakar Madiga, who had earlier threatened self-immolation thanked the government for its decision to issue an ordinance and said that it was now the responsibility of the government to ensure its implementation.However, Congress legislator M Narsihmlu, who hails from Madiga community, demanded that the government should take steps to immediately convene a special session of the State assembly and pass a statutory bill.``The government cannot wash off its hands by merely issuing an ordinance. It shouldtake steps to pass the bill an ensure its implementation in toto,'' Narsimhlu told reporters here today.He also demanded that the Chief Minister should use his good offices and urge the Centre to incorporate the bill in the ninth schedule as was done by earlier Tamil Nadu government headed by Jayalalitha.Meanwhile, the state unit of BJP also hailed the State Government's decision to issue the ordinance to categorise SCs.
