VIJAYAWADA: Amidst different political bytes on the issue of including Kapus in the Backward Class (BC) list, the TDP moved a private member bill in the Lok Sabha on Friday seeking the assent of the Centre to the Kapu reservation bill sent by the State government by making necessary amendment to the Constitution.
By doing so, the TDP, which is already at loggerheads with the Centre on various issues, including special category status to the State, has found another cause celebre. After making the promise of extending BC status to Kapus in 2014 elections and passing an Act in the AP Legislative Assembly extending 5 per cent quota in employment and education to the community, the State government sent the same for the assent of the Centre.
It appears that by doing so, the TDP decided to leave the ball in the Centre’s court and send the message that it did its part to fulfil its commitment made to Kapus.In fact, TDP supremo and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu already asserted that he had kept the promise made to Kapus by making a legislation and sending the same to the Centre for approval, indicating that now the issue is in the court of the Centre.
Leader of Opposition and YSRC chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy, who is undertaking Praja Sankalpa Yatra in East Godavari, where the presence of Kapus is predominant, recently, despite asserting that the reservation issue was not a subject to be dealt with at the State level, however, said that the YSRC was committed to Kapu reservations after coming under severe criticism from community leaders and former minister Mudragada Padmanabham and other leaders as well as those from the Telugu Desam Party.