Latest news with #BCs
The Hindu
2 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Revanth Reddy should make way for Ponnam Prabhakar or Mahesh Kumar Goud as CM: BJP president
Telangana BJP president N. Ramchander Rao suggested that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy should quit and hand over the post to his Cabinet colleague Ponnam Prabhakar or PCC President Mahesh Kumar Goud, both of them belonging to the Backward Classes (BCs) if he was really sincere about the BC welfare. In an informal interaction with the media at the State party office on Friday, Mr. Rao 'thanked' Mr. Reddy for making the suggestion of making former Governor Bandaru Dattatreya as the next Vice President and said the party will take a call on that and offered his own piece of advice to the CM. The BJP leader has accused Mr. Reddy of insulting the entire BC community with his comments that Prime Minister Modi belonged to a 'converted BC caste' and wanted to know what religion or caste his (CM) leader Rahul Gandhi belonged to. The Chief Minister should be given a 'Goebbels Prize' for all kinds of propaganda he was indulging in, he said and demanded the Congress first fulfil the promise of 42% quota for the BC in the local body polls by amending Section 285 of the Panchayat Raj Act to make it 'legally strong'. Mr. Rao said the Telangana government caste census cannot be a role model for the country when it had reduced the BCs numbers. It was unfair and outrageous to add 'all the Muslims' in the 10% quota out of the 42% BC quota when only a few castes like 'dudekulas', 'hajis' and 'pakirs' were included in the BC-B category earlier. The Congress government has made only two persons from among BC as Cabinet Ministers whereas the majority of Ministers in the Modi Cabinet belonged to BCs, he said. The BJP chief also dismissed about the internal fights in the party as a 'family' issue and said the Central leadership is seized of the issue. He would soon constitute a new State committee with 20 persons and 33% posts would be given to women. There is no pressure on him about the new party posts and wanted the aspirants to go to the people and fight on public issues.
The Hindu
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Ponnam flays BJP for comments on 42% BC quota, says party always favoured capitalists
Senior Congress leader and Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar has criticised Telangana BJP leaders, particularly Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy, for 'commenting' against the government's decision to enhance the quota for Backward Classes (BCs) to 42% in proportion to their population. 'BJP was in the forefront in its efforts to dilute the benefits of BCs since the Mandal Commission days, as the party continues to harbour a 'feudalistic mindset'. The party always worked for the interests of capitalists and never served the interests of BC communities,' he told the media in New Delhi on Friday. He strongly condemned the remarks made by Mr. Kishan Reddy against the caste survey conducted by the Telangana government, in line with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's call for 'jitni hissedari, utni bhagedari' (benefits in proportion with population). 'BJP announced that a leader from the weaker sections would be made the Chief Minister whenever the party comes to power in Telangana. This promise comes at a time when they did not even make a BC MLA as leader of the legislature party,' he said, adding that Union MoS for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who is from the BC community, was removed from the post of Telangana BJP chief. 'N. Ramchander Rao, who fought against the Mandal Commission report, was recently made the State BJP president. And he is questioning the government's plan to give 42% quota to BCs. Everybody knows that BJP has won the elections in collusion with BRS,' he said, and recalled how Chief Minister A. Revanth reddy had requested Mr. Kishan Reddy to facilitate an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the interests of the weaker sections but to no avail. Caste organisations and those who are working for the cause of BCs would not allow BJP leaders into the State if the party continued to oppose BCs. 'We have adopted a wait-and-watch approach to ensure that 42% quota for BCs is implemented in the State. BJP leaders should not create obstacles in the process,' he said, and advised the BC leaders in BJP not to toe the line of Mr. Kishan Reddy and Mr. Ramchander Rao. He reiterated that Congress was committed to social justice and taking steps in that direction. 'What did BJP do for BC communities, compared to the efforts put in by Congress?' he asked.
The Hindu
5 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Kishan Reddy slams Telangana caste survey, backs Centre's census for ‘real justice' to BCs
The proposed caste census to be taken up by the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre will be as per the Constitution to provide 'real justice' to the Backward Classes (BC) unlike the 'useless' caste socio-economic survey taken up by the Congress government in Telangana which seeks to 'cheat' them by including Muslims in the BCc quota, said Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy on Friday. 'Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy should explain how the BCs can benefit when his government survey has reduced the numbers to 46% of the population and cutting down the quota benefit further by seeking to include 10% Muslims who will anyway get benefit from the 10% EWS — economically weaker sections quota,' he told a press conference in New Delhi. The High Court had struck down the 4% quota for Muslims when they were included in BC-E category by the then Congress government led by Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy but it is being implemented with the existing stay order in the Supreme Court. The current government intends to increase the same to 10% depriving the BCs of their rights as their quota gets reduced to 32%, he maintained. Mr. Kishan Reddy's contention is that 10% quota to Muslims benefits the Majlis Party and Congress leaders more. In this context, he referred to the GHMC elections where most of the BC reserved divisions were bagged by the Majlis Party in the last elections. The BJP leader said it was unbecoming of the Chief Minister to speak sarcastically about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's caste as 'converted caste' and has pointed out that inclusion of castes into SC/ST/BC has been a continuous process. Mr. Modi's caste was included by the then Congress governments based on the Mandal Commission report. The Congress has never made a BC as either PM or CM in its history plus did not bother to take up caste census or provide quota to BCs when in power. The Minister said the Congress government should follow the High Court order and conduct the local body polls within September and also implement the promised 42% quota for BCs even while 'genuine' BCs get the benefit.
The Hindu
5 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
BRS flays CM for half-hearted attempts to implement 42% BC quota
HYDERABAD The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has alleged that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy is continuously deceiving backward classes in Telangana as the efforts of the State government to implement 42% reservation to BCs have been half-hearted so far and its 'drama' in New Delhi for the last two days has been giving rise to suspicion over the quota implementation. Stating that caste census conducted by the Revanth Reddy government was not a role model for the country as claimed by the Chief Minister himself, BRS legislators K.P. Vivekanand and Shambipur Raju and party leader Kyama Mallesh said here on Friday that it was an utter flop model as it had pruned the BC population numbers than their actual strength. They sought to know whether implementing the 42% quota for BCs was possible by subverting the due procedure. They reminded the Chief Minister that he had told the Assembly while passing the BC reservation Bills with all parties' support that he would lead an all-party delegation to Delhi to pursue with the Centre for its support to get the President's assent for the Bills. But he did not keep his word. The BRS leaders also criticised the Chief Minister for making insulting comments on BRS MLC D. Sravan, Congress MLA K. Shankaraiah and Minister V. Srihari. Unlike Mr. Revanth Reddy, the three had risen to the present positions with their hard work and not by carrying cash bags for others. Mr. Sravan had played a role in the Statehood movement and as a teacher had moulded several students. Alleging that insulting BCs had become routine for the Chief Minister, the BRS leader demanded an apology from the Chief Minister to the three leaders. They also suggested to find ways to achieve enhanced reservation for BCs in a scientific manner and before that fulfil the promises made in the BC Declaration.
Indian Express
12 hours ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Exclusive: Informed by caste survey, Telangana could provide curated benefits for each sub-caste
The 59 SC sub-castes and 33 ST sub-castes in Telangana will receive tailor-made benefits in education, employment, and need-based financial support to individual families, based on the findings of the state's caste survey, The Indian Express has learnt. While the focus till now had been on Madigas, the largest SC sub-caste, followed by Malas, it will shift to the remaining 57 sub-castes which have been left behind and are not doing well as per the caste survey report. Similar customised schemes will be applicable to nearly 50 sub-castes of the 134 BC castes in Telangana. The 11-member expert committee headed by former Supreme Court Judge B Sudarshan Reddy submitted a 300-page review of the caste survey report to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy at the Marri Chennareddy HRD Institute last Saturday. Deputy Chief Minister (Finance and Planning, Energy) Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu told The Indian Express that the report places an even greater responsibility on the government to assemble community-specific schemes. 'The report provides an insightful understanding of how people of each caste and sub-caste are faring. Their standing socially and economically… whether they have jobs or not or any means of livelihood. Those are not just statistics in the report; they are people. We now know the numerical strength of each community. We need tailor-made solutions to address each community's issues, down to family units,' Bhatti said. An official explained, 'Based on the numerical strength, we will design not just government schemes and benefits, but provide quotas in education and employment, individual financial assistance, political representation down to Mandal and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies.' There were a few surprises too in the caste survey report. For instance, the BC population has crossed 56 per cent in the state. On July 11, the state government had passed a Bill providing a 42 per cent quota for BCs in local bodies, and another bill providing a 42 per cent reservation in education and employment opportunities, assuming that the BC population hovered between 55-56 per cent and would cross 56 per cent by the 2028 elections. The state government sent the two Bills to the President and the Centre for their consent. As the Telangana government received indications that the President may send back the Bill without approval, Chief Minister Reddy, Deputy CM Bhatti and others rushed to New Delhi to make a powerpoint presentation at the AICC, in a bid to mount pressure. Another surprise was that at least four per cent of Telangna's population declared that they have no caste. According to the finalised data, the state has 1,15,71,457 households and the population surveyed was 3,55,50,759. Of this, the SC population was 61,91,294 (17.42%), the ST population was 37,08,408 (10.43%), the BC population was 2,00,37,668 (56.36%), while other castes were 56,13,389 (15.89%). CM Reddy said that the social, economic, educational, employment and political caste (SEEPC) survey, conducted by the Telangana government through door-to-door visits and self-certification of the people, is a role model for the country. The government has collected 88 crore pages of data in the survey.
