CM Revanth Slams KCR for Blocking 42% BC Quota, Vows to End BRS Politics of Obstruction

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A. Revanth took a broadside at former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao for not extending support to the state government in providing a 42 per cent BC quota in the ensuing local body elections.

Participating in the debate on the BC quota bill in the Assembly on Sunday, the Chief Minister said the BRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao was against BC empowerment and creating hurdles for the enactment of the bill in the house. The BRS legislator G. Kamalakar’s statement of his full support for the bill is admirable. But the party leadership is not happy and obstructing the bill with a malicious motive, he said.

The Chief Minister appealed to Kamalakar not to succumb to pressure from the BRS leadership and stop spreading misinformation to the weaker sections from the Assembly.  Blaming each other by the BC community leaders is not a good sign for the backward communities, the Chief Minister said.

Further, Revanth Reddy held KCR responsible for not enhancing BC quota as the Panchayat Raj Act 2018, enacted during the BRS rule, does not permit the increase of quota beyond 50 percent.  The Chief Minister questioned the BRS for not supporting the big dharna held at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, demanding that the Union Government approve the BC quota bills pending before the President of India. It was a clear sign of the lack of sincerity of BRS in increasing the BC quota, he charged.

People have already given a mandate against BRS, the Chief Minister said, warning the opposition party of facing public ire again and losing their stature if the party did not stop playing politics on BC’s political empowerment. The opposition party influenced the Governor and stalled the promulgation of the Ordinance for the BC quota. The Governor forwarded the bills and ordinance to the President of India for approval, but no positive response yet. Since the centre has not approved, the government decided to adopt a bill to lift a 50 percent cap on reservation in the assembly, Revanth Reddy said.

The Chief Minister also mentioned that the State government wrote letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi five times seeking an appointment, but the Prime Minister has not responded positively.

Elaborating on the state government’s unstinted efforts to increase the BC quota, Revanth Reddy said that the dedication commission was constituted as per the High Court orders.  Rajya Sabha member R. Krishnaiah has filed a writ petition (Writ Petition No. 30381/2024) in the High Court, demanding that information be collected through the dedication commission and not through the BC Commission. We conducted a caste survey through the Dedication Commission to provide 42 percent reservation to the weaker sections, he disclosed.

Referring to BRS leader Kamalakar’s statement that Rajasthan and Bihar encountered a lot of challenges, the Chief Minister said that the Telangana government sent an official committee and ministers to study the policies in other states to resolve hurdles.

Revanth Reddy said the government has appointed the dedication commission only after examining the legal issues, and it has worked diligently to enact a law for the BC quota in a deadline of 365 days.

The BC quota was approved in a cabinet meeting before adopting a resolution in the Assembly. Two separate bills were sent to the Governor to provide a 42 per cent quota in education, empowerment, and local bodies. The two bills have been pending with the President for the last 5 months, the Chief Minister said. He pointed out that some forces approached the High Court on local body elections, and the court ordered to conduct the election be conducted by September 30.