HYDERABAD: State BJP president N Ramchander Rao has demanded that the Congress government allocate the proposed 42% reservations exclusively to Backward Class (BC) communities, excluding any share for other groups.
The BJP’s OBC Morcha staged a maha dharna at Indira Park on Saturday, urging the implementation of the Congress’ Kamareddy Declaration. Along with Ramchander Rao, Union minister G Kishan Reddy, several MPs, MLAs, MLCs, and other senior party leaders participated in the dharna.
Addressing the gathering, Ramchander Rao warned the state government against including Muslims in the 10% quota under the overall 42% reservation proposed for BCs. “BJP will strongly oppose religion-based reservations,” he said.
Accusing Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of politicising the issue by staging protests at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, he alleged that the Congress was attempting to shift blame onto the Centre to hide its own failure in implementing the promise.
He asserted that the BJP has always been committed to the welfare of BCs, citing the appointment of Narendra Modi -- a BC leader -- as the Prime Minister. “There are 27 ministers from BC communities in the Union Cabinet and five BC chief ministers in BJP-ruled states,” he noted. He also pointed out that the Congress never appointed a BC leader as chief minister in either undivided Andhra Pradesh or Telangana.
He demanded that Revanth Reddy disclose how much the Congress government has spent on BC welfare since assuming office, and appealed to BC communities to support the BJP for securing their rights.
Addressing on the occasion, Union minister G Kishan Reddy accused the Congress of reneging on its promise to implement 42% reservations for BCs within 100 days of coming to power. “It has been nearly two years, and the promise remains unfulfilled,” he said.
Rejecting the proposed 10% quota for Muslims within the BC reservation pool, Kishan Reddy argued that the minority community is already covered under the Economically Backward Classes (EBC) quota. He also expressed concerns about the state’s caste survey, questioning how the population of SCs and STs increased while the number of BCs declined.