HYDERABAD: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Tuesday held discussions with Advocate General A Sudarshan Reddy and senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi to review the legal strategy for defending the state government’s decision to provide 42 per cent reservation to BCs in urban and rural local bodies.
The high court is scheduled to hear on Wednesday several petitions that have been filed challenging the government’s decision to enhance BC quota in local bodies.
The meeting was attended by TPCC chief B Mahesh Kumar Goud, AICC Telangana in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, ministers Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy,
Ponnam Prabhakar, N Uttam Kumar Reddy and Vakiti Srihari.
During the meeting, the chief minister is understood to have asked the legal team to present a strong case before the high court, emphasising the rationale and merits behind issuing GO 9, granting 42 per cent quota for BCs in local body elections.
Singhvi, a senior advocate in the Supreme Court, is representing the state’s case in the high court, alongside the advocate general. He also represented a similar case, which challenged the same GO in the Supreme Court.
The chief minister, meanwhile, reiterated the state government’s commitment to protecting the rights of BC communities and stressed the need for a robust defence backed by empirical data and legal precedent.
Later in the day, the BC leaders of the Congress held a meeting at the official residence of Vakiti Srihari. Mahesh Goud, ministers Ponnam Prabhakar and Konda Surekha, Government Advisors K Keshava Rao, MP Suresh Shetkar, M Anil Kumar Yadav, former MP V Hanumantha Rao, MLAs Veerlapally Shankar, Raj Thakur, Hyderabad Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi, several corporation chairpersons and other prominent BC leaders, including Charan Koushik Yadav, attended the meeting.
Speaking to TNIE, Koushik Yadav said that the meeting discussed how the BRS and BJP were staying away from the legal battle. The meeting also emphasised the need for a unified legal battle to safeguard the interests of the BC communities.