Congress Forms Committees on BC Quota for Local Body Polls
The Congress leadership considered the option of allocating 42 per cent of tickets to BC candidates in local body polls as a political commitment, even if the legal process remains incomplete.
Hyderabad: The Congress has constituted a legal experts committee to suggest measures to the state government on implementing 42 per cent quota for Backward Classes (BCs) communities in the upcoming local bodies elections. It has also set up a ministers’ committee comprising Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and ministers N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Ponnam Prabhakar and Danasari Anasuya Seethakka to hold wider consultations with stakeholders and submit recommendations.
Both committees have been directed to submit their reports by August 28, ahead of the state Cabinet meeting on August 29 which will take a final call on how to proceed on the BC quota issue in the local bodies polls.
These decisions were taken at a joint meeting of the TPCC political affairs committee (PAC) and the advisory committee at Gandhi Bhavan on Saturday. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, Cabinet ministers, AICC Telangana incharge Meenakshi Natarajan, TPCC chief B. Mahesh Kumar Goud and senior leaders attended the deliberations, which lasted over three hours. The focus remained on ensuring implementation of 42 per cent reservations.
The meeting expressed concern over the delay by President Droupadi Murmu in giving assent to the two Bills passed by the Assembly in March — one granting 42 per cent reservation to BCs in local bodies and another providing the same quota in education and employment. It also noted that the Ordinance approved by the Cabinet to lift the 50 per cent ceiling on overall reservations, imposed during the BRS regime, had been pending with the President for more than a month.
Against this backdrop, the Congress leadership considered the option of allocating 42 per cent of tickets to BC candidates in local body polls as a political commitment, even if the legal process remains incomplete.
Briefing the media after the meeting, Deputy CM Bhatti said the legal experts committee would explore whether or not the government can move ahead with 42 per cent reservations despite the delay at the level of the President.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said the ministers' committee will take legal opinion from eminent legal experts Abhishek Manu Singhvi, a party Rajya Sabha member, and retired Supreme Court judge Justice B. Sudershan Reddy, the I.N.D.I.A. bloc’s Vice-Presidential candidate, on how to proceed on the quota issue.
The PAC also extended full support to Justice B. Sudershan Reddy, describing him as a son of Telangana soil with an illustrious judicial career, who had delivered landmark verdicts protecting democratic rights.
The meeting decided that on August 26, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Cabinet colleagues and senior leaders will join Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s padyatra in Bihar against “vote theft,” alleging that the BJP is misusing institutions to manipulate elections.
The PAC also passed a condolence resolution mourning the demise of CPI veteran Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, hailing his lifelong service to Left politics and national issues. Revanth Reddy, ministers and party leaders will pay their respects at Makhdoom Bhavan on Sunday.
