Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday accused the BJP of deliberate delay in clearing the 42 per cent BC reservation bills passed by the State Assembly.
He called out BJP’s double standards on BC reservations, alleging that BJP leaders who supported the BC reservation bill in the Telangana Assembly were now blocking the same in Parliament.
Revanth Reddy, along with his Cabinet colleagues, Congress MPs and other leaders will meet party Lok Sabha leader Rahul Gandhi and Rajya Sabha leader Mallikarjun Kharge to request them to pressure the NDA government and get Presidential assent for the BC Reservations bills. They will be camping in Delhi for the next couple of days to promote the Telangana model for caste census to be taken up by the Centre.
“We are building support among Opposition parties to pressurise the Centre. The High Court has directed that local body polls be held by September; elections will be conducted as soon as the Centre clears the bills,” he said, adding that with the implementation of 10 per cent reservations for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), the reservation limit has already surpassed the 50 per cent limit and the ordinance sent to the Governor was to remove restriction on this 50 percent limit.
Speaking to the mediapersons, Revanth Reddy questioned BJP’s stance linking BC reservations to Muslim quota removal, noting that BJP-ruled States like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra continue to provide Muslim quota under BC reservations.
“If they want, let them first remove Muslim reservations in those States before questioning us in Telangana,” he said, calling BJP’s approach a conspiracy to obstruct BC rights.
He stated that the BJP had done injustice to BCs in Telangana by removing Bandi Sanjay as its State president and it must correct its mistake by appointing Bandaru Dattatreya as Vice President.
