Latest news with #KamareddyDeclaration
Hans India
a day ago
- Politics
- Hans India
Bandi Sanjay accuses Congress of betraying BCs with ‘Muslim Declaration' agenda
Hyderabad / New Delhi: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar launched a blistering attack on the Congress party over its protest at Jantar Mantar, alleging that the dharna was not for Backward Classes (BCs) but a covert push for Muslim reservations. He claimed the Congress had abandoned its Kamareddy Declaration and was now pursuing what he termed the 'Mumtiki Muslim Declaration.' Addressing the media on Wednesday in the national capital, Bandi Sanjay accused Congress of conspiring to allocate only 5% reservations to BCs while diverting an additional 10% to Muslims under the guise of the BC Bill. 'This is not a BC Declaration—it's a Muslim Declaration. Congress is cheating BCs and trying to implement 100% Muslim reservations,' he said. He asserted that the Congress dharna lacked genuine support from BC communities and warned that the BJP would only support the bill if it ensured 42% reservations exclusively for BCs. 'Otherwise, we will block it. Ambedkar opposed religious reservations, and so do we,' he declared. Bandi Sanjay challenged Congress to a public debate on its historical treatment of BCs, questioning whether any BC had ever been made Prime Minister or Chief Minister during its decades-long rule. 'In 50 years of Congress rule, not a single BC was made PM. In 48 years of united Andhra Pradesh, not one BC was made CM,' he said, listing a series of upper-caste leaders who held the post. He contrasted this with the BJP's record, highlighting that the party had made a BC the Prime Minister three times, appointed 27 BCs as Union Ministers, and elevated BC leaders to Chief Ministerial positions across states. 'We've also given the highest constitutional posts to Dalits, tribals, and minorities,' he added. Bandi Sanjay accused Congress of trying to make Hindus a minority in Telangana through religious-based reservations and warned of national consequences. 'If this poisonous tree isn't uprooted in Telangana, it will spread across the country,' he said. He also criticized the Congress for failing to provide adequate representation to BCs in the Revanth Reddy cabinet, nominated posts, and Lok Sabha tickets. 'Congress is shedding crocodile tears for BCs. The weaker sections will soon rise and raze the party to the ground, as they did in UP, Bengal, Bihar, and Tamil Nadu,' he concluded.
Hans India
a day ago
- Politics
- Hans India
Congress protest a ‘praise parade' for mother-son duo, fumes Kishan
Hyderabad/New Delhi: Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy launched a scathing attack on the Congress party following its protest meeting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, accusing Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of staging a political spectacle to gain favor with the Gandhi family. Speaking to reporters in the national capital on Wednesday, Kishan Reddy dismissed the event as a 'praise parade' for Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, noting that over half of Revanth Reddy's 31-minute speech was dedicated to lauding the Congress leadership. 'The Jantar Mantar meeting was not about BC welfare—it was about securing blessings from the Gandhi family to survive political pressure in Telangana,' Reddy said. He criticized the Congress government in Telangana for failing to implement the Kamareddy Declaration, which promised extensive welfare measures for Backward Classes (BCs). 'They pledged lakhs of crores over five years. By now, Rs 40,000 crore should have been allocated. But not a single rupee has been spent,' Reddy alleged, adding that no corporations have been formed for BC communities as promised. Reddy accused the Congress of deliberately delaying local body elections to avoid public backlash. 'They are playing dramas in the name of reservations. The BC community sees through this insincerity,' he said. Highlighting the GHMC elections, Reddy pointed out that Muslims contested and won 31 out of 50 BC-reserved seats. He alleged that both BRS and Congress were acting under the influence of the AIMIM party. 'Now, with the inclusion of 10% Muslims in BCs and a proposed 42% reservation, the Congress is undermining BC representation,' he said. He further criticized the Congress for conducting an 'unscientific' survey that reduced the BC population count and accused the party of continuing the same mistakes made by the previous BRS government. 'The BJP will oppose any religious-based reservations that violate constitutional principles,' Reddy declared. Taking aim at the Congress's historical record, Reddy said the Nehru family had consistently failed BCs—citing the shelving of the Kaka Kalelkar Commission report in 1955 and the neglect of the Mandal Commission recommendations by Indira and Rajiv Gandhi. 'The Congress has suffered crushing defeats in three consecutive elections and struggles to cross 100 seats. Their dream of returning to power at the Centre is delusional,' Reddy said. He dismissed Revanth Reddy's criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as futile. 'Mocking Modi ji is like spitting at the sky. The country is witnessing stable governance under his leadership,' he concluded, advising Congress to abandon hopes of gaining power at the Centre for the next 30 years.
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Decode Politics: Why Telangana CM has led Congress's BC quota battle to Jantar Mantar
Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy along with a slew of state Congress leaders, including ministers and party MLAs, held a protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi Wednesday to demand Presidential assent to the Bills passed by the Telangana Legislature giving 42% reservation to the Backward Classes (BCs) in the state. Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also joined the protest. The Revanth Reddy-led Telangana government, in line with its pre-poll promise made in the Kamareddy Declaration to enhance BC reservation, conducted a Socio, Educational, Employment, Economic, and Political Caste (SEEEPC) survey or caste survey in November last year. In light with the survey's findings, the Congress government started the process of enhancing reservations for BCs in government jobs, education and local bodies from the existing 23% to 42%. It also constituted a panel under retired bureaucrat Busani Venkateswara Rao to study the data of the caste survey and mandated it to submit a report within a month. The report, which is yet to be made public, recommended 42% reservation for BCs in the state. In March, the Reddy government passed two Bills – The Telangana Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (reservation of seats in educational institutions and of appointments or posts in services under the State) Bill 2025 and The Telangana Backward Classes (Reservation of seats in Rural and Urban Local Bodies) Bill 2025 – in the Assembly as well as the Legislative Council. The Bills were then sent to Telangana Governor Jishnu Dev Varma for his assent. Varma forwarded the Bills to President Droupadi Murmu for her assent on March 30. The Reddy dispensation also formed an independent working group headed by retired judge, Justice Sudarshan Reddy, for a review of the caste survey, which recently submitted its report to the government. Last month, the government promulgated an ordinance to provide for 42% quota for BCs in local bodies and sent it to Governor Varma for his approval. The Governor again sent the ordinance to the President for her assent. With the proposed quotas set to breach the Supreme Court-mandated 50% ceiling, the Telangana government needs to ensure that its move would fulfil the 'triple test' stipulated by the top court. 'We want to ensure that if the move is challenged in court, which in all likelihood this would be, it does not get entangled in a legal hurdle. Hence, we have made sure that the caste survey is scientific and also made sure that experts studied the data to give empirical credence for 42% reservation to BCs,' a senior Congress leader said. According to the caste survey, Telangana has 1,15,71,457 households and the population is 3,55,50,759. Of this, the Scheduled Caste (SC)'s population is 61,91,294 (17.42%), Scheduled Tribe (ST) 37,08,408 (10.43%), BCs 2,00,37,668 (56.36%), while other castes number 56,13,389 (15.89%). The Congress government has found itself in a tricky situation as it had promised to implement the proposed reservations in the local body elections. However, with the Telangana High Court directing it to hold and complete the rural local body polls by September 30, the Congress is racing against time to implement the enhanced quotas. A Congress leader said they would do 'everything in their power' to ensure that the local body polls are held with the new reservation system in place. 'If we need to knock Delhi's doors, we will do it everyday. We will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the BC quota sees the light of day,' he said. While the BRS has been in favour of reservations, it claims that the approach adopted by the Congress government was 'not sincere'. Terming the Congress's Jantar Mantar dharna as an 'attempt to camouflage its failures', BRS MLC Dasoju Sravan told The Indian Express that the Reddy government should have approached the Supreme Court with empirical data to implement the reservations. 'They should have held a dialogue with other parties while Rahul Gandhi could have led an all-party delegation seeking its implementation,' he said. Sravan also slammed the Congress government for promulgating an ordinance on the matter. 'What was the point of the ordinance when Bills are already with the President. It is constitutionally not valid and was also unwanted,' he said. BRS MLC K Kavitha, who on Tuesday was forced to call off her 72-hour hunger strike over the issue after the Telangana High Court denied permission, has pressed for the implementation of the quota and also sought a separate reservation for Muslims. The BJP has called the Reddy government's efforts to implement the quota 'insincere' and has opposed the proposal to include Muslims in the BC category. While Telangana BJP president N Ramachander Rao urged CM Reddy to pass a Government Order (GO) on the issue, a state BJP leader said that including Muslims in the quota would amount to granting religion-based reservations. As reported by The Indian Express earlier, the Reddy government is considering a proposal to streamline the quota benefits for 14 backward Muslim groups, which include about 3 lakh Shia families, under the Backward Classes (BC) reservation regime. The caste survey found that Muslims account for 12.58% of the state's population, down from the 12.69 recorded in the 2011 Census. The Reddy government, which has been hit by various controversies like the Kancha Gachibowli row and farmer suicides, is hoping to bolster its prospects with the quota move. 'The local body polls are like a mid-term referendum of our tenure. A good showing will cement our position in the state. By fulfilling pre-poll promises, we want to tell the people that we walk the talk,' a state Congress leader said. Considering the findings of the survey, BCs are likely to exert pressure for more representation in the local body polls. Currently, the Reddy Cabinet has only three ministers from the BC communities – Vakiti Srihari, Ponnam Prabhakar and Konda Surekha. The BRS, however, feels that the Congress's play would have no bearing on the polls as the Reddy government has 'failed the people'. 'In the last polls, we won almost 50% of the seats and not just local body elections, if Assembly elections are held today, we will definitely win more than 80% of the seats as the people are aware of the state government's failures,' Sravan claimed.
NDTV
2 days ago
- Politics
- NDTV
Analysis: More Political Optics In Revanth Reddy's Delhi Dharna?
The dharna at Jantar Mantar today is meant to create the political optics of Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and the Congress party as champions of reservation for the backward classes, attempting to put the BJP-led central government on the defensive. On the face of it, the strategy is to pressurise the central government and President Droupadi Murmu to grant assent to two Bills passed by the Telangana State Assembly in March. These bills aim to increase reservations for Backward Classes to 42% in education and employment, and also in local bodies. A related ordinance to remove the 50% cap on reservations under the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act is also awaiting approval. Revanth Reddy and a delegation led by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi also plan to personally submit representations to the President. The dharna is part of a larger effort to deliver on a key poll promise made by the Congress party in Telangana, famous as the Kamareddy Declaration. The government has already conducted a caste survey, also called SEEEPC, Socio Economic Education Employment Political Caste survey, and based on its findings, approved the 42% quota. The protest is a way to demonstrate the government's commitment to social justice and the BC community. Revanth Reddy wants to showcase Telangana as a model to the rest of the country, pointing out that the state government got not just the survey done, but got it approved by the cabinet, and quickly moved the Bills in the assembly, got the governor's assent, and sent it to Delhi. The issue is time-sensitive. The Telangana High Court has directed the state to complete the process for local body elections by September 30. The Congress government is under pressure to get the quota policy approved and in place before these polls. The dharna serves to highlight the urgency of the situation. Politically, the dharna is a strategic move to blame the BJP-led central government for the delay in approving the Bills. Revanth Reddy has accused the Centre of deliberately stalling the process. This helps shift responsibility away from the state government and rally public support. The protest, with huge numbers of Congress leaders and cadre mobilised to travel to Delhi, showcases Revanth Reddy's leadership and commitment to the cause. That Revanth Reddy leads from the front and is not facing any political rebellion, at least on the face of it, in Telangana. It also positions the Congress party's nationwide stance on reservations and social justice as a party that travels the long road from promise to fulfilment The protest has drawn support from various groups, including the INDIA bloc parties and a major union of Telangana government employees. This helps build a broader coalition and puts more pressure on the central government. The BJP has called the protest a political drama and has raised concerns about 10% of the 42% quota being allocated to Muslims. By taking the issue to Delhi and garnering support, the Congress is attempting to counter these criticisms and frame the opposition as being against BC reservations. The BRS has criticised the Congress government for not tabling the entire caste survey report as a public document in the assembly. It says the Congress has taken half-hearted measures instead of taking robust legal action like Tamil Nadu did, to take reservations beyond the 50% cap, by also amending the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act. Telangana Jagruti leader K Kavitha says the Congress did not try to build a consensus to showcase the joint political strength of Telangana to the Centre. She has also said a separate 10% quota for Muslims would make it easier to get the reservation enhanced for backward classes.
Hans India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Hans India
Cong padayatra devoid of public support: BJP MLA
Hyderabad: Launching a scathing critique of the Congress-led government, BJP MLA and BJPLP Whip Dhanpal Suryanarayana Gupta on Tuesday described the ongoing Congress padayatra as disconnected from public sentiment and devoid of genuine support. Addressing media persons at the BJP state office, Gupta asserted that the padayatra had become an exercise in political posturing rather than a reflection of people's concerns. Gupta claimed that the Congress was attempting to mask its administrative shortcomings by highlighting its accomplishments over the past 20 months, which, he alleged, were insignificant. 'People are asking—what has the Congress truly delivered in these months? Their padayatra does not resonate with public expectations,' he remarked. He accused the Congress of failing to honor promises made before the 2023 elections, including monthly financial assistance of Rs 2,500 for women aged 18 and above, the distribution of electric scooters to students, and pension benefits for the elderly and widows. Gupta said these unfulfilled assurances had led to widespread disillusionment. On the issue of backward class (BC) representation, the BJP leader criticized the Congress for not implementing 42% reservation in the cabinet and questioned the rationale behind including Muslims in the BC quota. Referring to recent appointments, he noted that none of the five RTI commissioners announced were from BC communities. Gupta also raised concerns about the state's handling of welfare schemes, citing irregularities in Kalyana Lakshmi disbursements and insufficient budget allocations under the Kamareddy Declaration for BCs. He alleged that Congress had created a health and nutrition crisis in government residential schools and failed to reimburse Rs 6,000 crore in educational fees for BC students. On the alleged Kaleshwaram scam, he demanded a CBI inquiry. He criticized the Justice PC Ghosh Commission's report for lacking clarity. He claimed the inflated cost of motors exposed collusion between Congress and BRS. Gupta predicted electoral backlash against Congress in the upcoming local polls, asserting that the BC community would rally to defeat the party. 'Governance should build trust, not rely on theatrics like padayatras,' he said.
