Sympathies Overflowing For Shankar Rao Ousted minister for handlooms and textiles Dr P Shankar Rao might not have received any sympathies from his own Congress party leaders in the state, but there has been an overwhelming sympathy flowing for him from different quarters. Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi president Manda Krishna Madiga strongly condemned the unceremonious sacking of Shankar Rao from the Cabinet. “Removal or induction of a minister might be the prerogative of the Chief Minister, but the way a Dalit minister was sacked was shocking. It clearly showed that the Congress party and Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy are anti-Dalits,” he said. The MRPS has threatened to launch massive agitations from Saturday protesting the removal of Shankar Rao. There would be dharnas at mandal headquarters, followed by road blockades all over the state and finally, there would be boycotting of Republic Day ceremony, he said. Surprisingly, the Telugu Desam Party, too, has come in support of Shankar Rao. “He was removed from the cabinet only because he was fighting against the corrupt ministers in the Kiran cabinet. The Chief Minister has become a puppet in the hands of the Congress high command,” TDP senior leader T Devender Goud said.