HYDERABAD: Senior Congress leader V Hanumanth Rao on Monday called out Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for the government’s move of restricting reservations being provided to SC, ST and BC communities.
The government had issued an Ordinance on Sunday, limiting total reservations being provided in Panchayat Elections to 50 per cent. Addressing a press conference, Rao said that 50 per cent of the State’s population were Backward Classes.
“But the government has allotted only 28 per cent to them. We cannot keep silent if BCs are ignored. We will hold a meeting on 19 December about this issue. I encourage all members of BC organisations in the city to come and be part of it,” Rao said.
Earlier, the government had legislated the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act 2018, giving around 34 per cent reservations to Backward Classes. On Sunday, an Ordinance was issued, amending the Act, resulting in reservations towards BCs being capped at 28 per cent (at 34, the total figure would have been 56 per cent).
This is was in keeping with the Supreme Court’s directions of not letting total reservations go beyond 50 per cent.