Congress to Stage Dharna in Delhi for BC Bill Nod

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, accompanied by his Cabinet colleagues, Congress MPs, MLAs, MLCs, and senior leaders, arrived in Delhi on Tuesday to stage a protest at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday, demanding Presidential assent to two Bills that seek to enhance reservations for Backward Classes (BCs) to 42 per cent in education, employment, and local bodies.

AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge will launch dharna at 11 am on Wednesday while senior party leader Rahul Gandhi will address dharna at 4 pm.

The two Bills, passed by the Assembly in March, were forwarded to the Centre and are pending with President Droupadi Murmu.

In a move aimed at mounting pressure on the Centre and the President, the Congress leadership in Telangana, under the direction of Revanth Reddy, announced a three-day programme in the national capital.

Congress MP Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy said the party had submitted adjournment motion notices in Parliament from August 5 to 7, seeking a debate on the BC reservation issue. He also confirmed that all 200 MPs from the I.N.D.I.A. bloc have been invited to participate in the protest on Wednesday.

Following the protest, the Chief Minister, accompanied by other senior leaders, is expected to meet President Droupadi Murmu on August 7 to submit a memorandum urging her to grant assent to the bills and ordinance.

There is no confirmation yet from Rashtrapati Bhavan regarding an appointment for the delegation, but party leaders remained hopeful of securing a meeting with the President on August 7.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, BC welfare minister Ponnam Prabhakar, panchayat raj minister Seetakka, TPCC president B. Mahesh Kumar Goud, AICC in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan, and around 25 Congress leaders from each district will participate in the protest demonstration.

Speaking to the media in Delhi, Prabhakar stated that the Bills were based on data from a caste survey conducted by the Congress government in line with party leader Rahul Gandhi’s promise to make Telangana a “model for social justice.”

He accused the BJP of double standards, noting that while it supported the bills in the state Assembly, it later began objecting to them — particularly citing the inclusion of Muslims in the BC category.

Prabhakar appealed to leaders across parties and social justice advocates to join the protest.

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, who are Leaders of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, respectively, are also likely to seek an audience with the President on the same issue — underlining the party's intensified push for BC quota implementation.