Hyderabad: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Saturday said that the Telangana government would present strong arguments before the Supreme Court against the prolonged pendency of two crucial 42 per cent BC quota bills at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The bills, passed by the Assembly in March, seek to provide 42 per cent reservations to the Backward Classes community — one in education and employment, and the other in local bodies. The bills have been awaiting the President’s assent for nearly five months.
Speaking at the joint meeting of the TPCC’s political affairs committee (PAC) and the advisory committee at Gandhi Bhavan, the Chief Minister said that two eminent lawyers had been engaged to argue Telangana’s case before the apex court. He said the state would not file a separate petition in the matter of the timeline for the President and Governors to pass state legislation, but implead in the case when it comes up for hearing. He explained that filing a fresh petition would take longer.
Revanth Reddy reiterated that the Congress government was committed to ensuring 42 per cent reservations for the BC community, as promised by party leader Rahul Gandhi.
He alleged that the previous BRS regime, under former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, had introduced a law restricting reservations in local bodies to below 50 per cent, which had effectively denied BCs their rightful share. To overcome this barrier, the Congress government brought in an ordinance amending the earlier law. This ordinance was forwarded by the Governor to the Centre and was lying with Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The Chief Minister asserted that the state’s intention was to secure justice for BCs and ensure that Rahul Gandhi’s commitment to them was implemented. He said that under the BRS legislation, BCs would not even get one per cent reservation, which necessitated the new bills.
Revanth Reddy also announced that he would attend Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Vote Chori’ Yatra in Bihar on August 26. On the issue of urea shortage, he accused the BRS and BJP of creating unnecessary drama, pointing out that he had met Union ministers J.P. Nadda and Anupriya Patel multiple times to press for urea supplies. He said monitoring of urea distribution at the field level was being intensified to ensure farmers receive timely supplies.
