Hyderabad: Chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday said he, along with ministers and party MPs, is ready to stage a dharna at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to press the Centre for approving 42% reservations for BCs in Telangana across panchayat raj local bodies, govt jobs, and educational institutions.He urged Rahul Gandhi and various parties’ MPs to raise the issue in Parliament, asserting that the Telangana govt had submitted the proposal for enhanced BC quotas to the Centre and the President of India four months ago.Revanth also hinted at further enhancing reservation for SCs and STs based on the findings of the state’s socio-economic caste census. The proposal includes raising SC quota from 15% to 17.5% and ST quota from 10% to 10.8% (11%). He said the upcoming national caste census would also bring clarity on the actual population share of these communities.Speaking at a presentation on the Telangana caste survey held at Telangana Bhavan in Delhi, he said: “The Telangana survey is not just a caste count. It is a socio-economic, educational, and political survey. We collected 88 crore pages of self-declared data. It’s 100% foolproof.”Revanth said the letter of appreciation from Sonia Gandhi felt like a ‘Nobel or Oscar award,’ calling it the highest honour of his political career.Revanth took sharp aim at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming “Modi is a legally converted OBC, as his caste was included in the category only after he became Gujarat CM.”He alleged that if Modi continues to stall the BC reservation bill, people will remove him from power and ensure the bill’s passage. “During our previous dharna at Jantar Mantar, I told Modi — either pass it now or the people will pass it after removing you from power. That message must now be sent again through Parliament,” he told party leaders.The CM slammed both the BJP and RSS for opposing caste census initiatives. He recalled that in 2020, the BJP-led central govt had told the Supreme Court it had no intention of conducting such a census, and Union minister Rajnath Singh had echoed the same position in Parliament.Revanth said the BJP only agreed to include caste census in the national census earlier this year due to pressure from Congress, particularly Rahul Gandhi, who made it a core demand during his Bharat Jodo Yatra.He accused BRS leaders KT Rama Rao and T Harish Rao of attempting to discredit the survey’s data, but said he had challenged them on the floor of the assembly to prove it wrong.Calling the survey a ‘rare model,’ Revanth said it would serve as a roadmap for the nation. “If anyone has a problem calling it the Telangana model, let’s call it the rare model — and I’ll explain why,” he said.Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka gave a presentation on the survey’s methodology, while irrigation minister Uttam Kumar Reddy and TPCC chief B Mahesh Kumar Goud spoke on its political significance.
