VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday accused former chief minister and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu of hoodwinking Kapus by allocating them 5 per cent of the 10 per cent reservations provided by the Union government to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) among forward castes.

When Naidu insisted that the government clarify whether it would provide 5 per cent reservations to Kapus under the EWS quota, Jagan, while reiterating his commitment to the welfare of the community, blasted the TDP chief for playing politics utterly disregarding public welfare.

“Conscience doesn’t prick Naidu. The Centre provided 10 per cent quota for economically weaker sections among forward castes. Naidu says Kapus have been agitating for inclusion among backward classes (BCs) for years. But he removed Kapus from BCs and merged them with forward castes and issued a GO providing them 5 per cent quota.

"He himself cannot clarify whether Kapus are OCs, BCs or FCs? As per Constitution, we got the EWS quota from the Centre. Nobody has the authority to arbitrarily allot five per cent to one caste or the other.

"The modalities were worked out by the Centre. Because of Naidu, the matter is in court today. Due to the matter being sub-judice, no decision can be taken. EWS quota are stalled in medical counselling because of Naidu. Cheating people like this is not new to him,” the CM thundered.

The issue of Kapu quota came up for discussion in the Assembly and led to fireworks between the opposition and treasury benches. The CM tore into the TDP chief’s claims pushing him to a corner and recalled that he had done the same thing in the case of categorisation of SCs to gain political mileage.

Explaining in detail how the TDP chief, when in power, deceived Kapus, he said Naidu had promised to include the community among BCs in his 2014 election manifesto knowing well enough that it’s against the Supreme Court verdict that quotas should not exceed 50 per cent.

Naidu constituted the Manjunath Commission to study the feasibility of inclusion of Kapus among BCs but without the signature of the panel chairman, he got the report, Jagan said, adding that the report, which had no credibility was, followed up with a bill providing five per cent quota for Kapus in the category of BCs.

Contrasting himself with the TDP chief, Jagan said he would not promise anything if he cannot keep it and explained that he had not promised quota for Kapus since the issue cannot be resolved at the State level.

Taking the TDP to the cleaners over funds allocated for the welfare of Kapus, the Chief Minister said Naidu had promised Rs 5,000 crore for the welfare of the community in the TDP’s 2014 manifesto.

“What did he do? In 2014-15, the budgetary allocation was Rs 50 crore and the money spent was zero. In 2015-16, the allocation was Rs 100 crore and the money spent was Rs 96 crore. The next year, with approaching elections in mind, Naidu made a budgetary allocation of Rs 1,000 crore but spent Rs 891 crore. In 2018-19, of the Rs 1,000 crore allocated, only Rs 525 crore was spent,” he said.

“But, our government as promised in the election manifesto, will spend Rs 10,000 crore in five years and, accordingly, we have allocated Rs 2,000 crore in our first budget,’’ Jagan added.

Earlier, in response to remarks by YSRC MLA Ambati Rambabu that the TDP government did nothing for Kapus except filing cases and cheating them, Naidu said that as promised his government had made all efforts to fulfil their demands.

“We passed a bill in the Assembly providing 5 per cent reservations to Kapus under the BC category and sent the same for the Centre’s approval. But as there was no response, we allocated 5 per cent to the Kapus out of the 10 per cent reservations to EWS.” Naidu’s explanation did not convince the treasury benches and in his sharp reply, the Chief Minister was caustic.

“Like a villain in films, Naidu fits the bill of such a character in the Assembly. He cheated Kapus during his five-year rule and paid the price. Naidu has forgotten the fact that he is no longer the chief minister. You claim to have 40 years of political experience. Age alone is not enough, there should be humanity and respect towards others,’’ Jagan said.

After Jagan’s reply, Naidu sought to defend himself but Speaker Tammineni Sitaram rejected his request. Jagan also protested that no business can be taken up in the House if the ‘exchange of views’ between him and the opposition leader continues prompting TDP MLAs to raise slogans. Following this, the Speaker adjourned the House till Wednesday while the TDP.