HYDERABAD: The top brass of the state Congress has landed in Delhi to push for 42 per cent reservations for Backward Classes (BCs).
While several Congress leaders, led by AICC state in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan, left for the national capital on a special train on Monday, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy reached Delhi on Tuesday.
Revanth, along with Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and scores of other Congress MPs, will be taking part in a massive dharna to be staged near Jantar Mantar on Wednesday, seeking approval for the Bills, which are aimed at providing 42% reservations to BCs in local body elections as well as in the education and employment sectors.
As part of their three-day protest programme, the Congress MPs from Telangana gave the adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha on Monday to discuss enhancement of BC quota to 42 per cent. As their notice was rejected, they staged a protest demonstration on the premises of Parliament, raising slogans in favour of enhanced BC reservations.
On Thursday, the Telangana Congress delegation, led by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, is scheduled to meet President Droupadi Murmu, seeking assent to the Bills related to BC reservations.
Leaders from INDIA bloc allies to express solidarity
Leaders from INDIA bloc allies such as the Samajwadi Party, DMK, Left parties, Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (SP) and others are also expected to participate in the Wednesday dharna and express their solidarity with the BC quota movement.
The three-day programme is part of the Congress government’s determined efforts to implement Rahul Gandhi’s slogan “Jitni abadi, utna haq” (reservations proportionate to population).
It may be recalled here that during his Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul had assured the people of Telangana that the Congress would conduct a caste survey in the state if voted to power.
The Revanth government conducted the Socio-Economic, Educational, Employment and Political Caste (SEEEPC) Survey and approved a Bill in the Assembly proposing 42% reservations to BCs. Now, the Bill is with the Union government. Hence, the ruling party has planned a series of events in the national capital to exert pressure on the Centre.
The ruling Congress leaders are of the view that though BJP leaders backed the BC reservation Bills, they were now backtracking on the same by talking about Muslim reservations.
Besides Revanth and Natarajan, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, TPCC chief B Mahesh Kumar Goud, ministers, MLCs, MLAs and other top leaders would be taking part in the dharna.
This latest protest follows a similar sit-in staged on April 2, where the Congress had called for the Centre to grant assent to the Telangana BCs (Reservation of Seats in Rural and Urban Local Bodies) Bill, 2025, and the Telangana BCs, SCs, and STs (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services Under the State) Bill, 2025. The state government has requested that both Bills be included under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to insulate them from potential judicial review.