Hyderabad: The Congress on Wednesday came down heavily on the Telangana Rashtra Samiti for messing up Backward Class reservations in panchayat raj elections, which led to legal issues and delay in elections.
TPCC chief N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao should be held responsible for passing the erroneous Panchayat Raj Act in the Assembly after suspending the main Opposition party for the entire Budget Session, which resulted in the present crisis.
“The new Panchayat Raj Act was brought in in an undemocratic manner. The TRS government or CM did not bother to consult any of the political parties while drafting the Act. It was also passed in the Assembly without the presence of the main Opposition party, the Congress. The present crisis is the result of all these mistakes committed by the government,” Mr Reddy said.
The leader of the party in the Legislative Council, Mohammed Ali Shabbir, accused the Chief Mini-ster of deliberately creating legal problems with the malafide intention of cancelling panchayat elections and trying to put the blame on the Congress for filing cases in the High Court against panchayat reservations.
“The previous Congress government had secured 34 per cent quota for BCs in 2013 panchayat elections. We could implement over 60 per cent reservations for all categories. The TRS government did not bother to depute the advocate general to the High Court when such an important case was heard. This shows they have no concern for BCs,” Mr Shabbilr Ali remarked.
TPCC chief official spokesperson Dasoju Sravan said, “The government should immediately convene a special session of the State Legislature to discuss a new Panchayat Raj Act and measures to implement 50 per cent quota for BCs.”
Every citizen in the country has a right to approach the court if injustice is done. Chief Minister K C Rao is trying to project as if going to courts is a wrong thing even if government does wrong things (sic).”
Mr Sravan questioned the rationale of the TRS government in announcing 34 per cent quota for BCs. "Your own intensive household survey revealed that BCs comprise 52 per cent of the population in the state. How can the government give 34 per cent quota when population ratio should be taken into account? There was 34 per cent quota even in 1999. What is the point in continuing the same after nearly 20 years?" Mr Sravan asked.
