Telangana Muslim quota bill deceptive, says former Union minister

Hyderabad: Stating that the Muslim Reservation Bill passed recently by the state legislature has too many loopholes which will make it difficult for the President to give his assent former Union minister S. Jaipal Reddy on Wednesday termed it as “quite deceptive”.

Speaking at the Gandhi Bhavan, Mr Reddy said that per se, the Congress was neither against Muslim reservations being hiked to 12 per cent nor against overall reservation quota be limited to 50 per cent.

He said in case Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was sincere, he should have issued a notification increasing the Muslim quota which is again subject to court intervention.

By sending the Bill to the President, when normally it ought to be referred to the Union government for its opinion, it is certain that the Bill will be “buried” at the Centre, he said.

“Everyone knows that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will bury the Bill without taking any decision. There is no use of this Bill except for KCR to try to take political advantage of the issue. In fact there is also the possibility of Muslims losing the existing 4 per cent quota,” Mr Reddy said.