Hyderabad: A delegation of Christian community leaders said on Friday that they had decided to support secular parties in the November 30 Assembly elections, and had drafted a 25-point agenda including reservations based on which they would back the contestants.
Father Raju Alex said, “The heads of all institutions discussed all issues, and came up with this declaration.”
The delegation claimed that the state had 85 lakh Christians of whom about 50 lakh were voters and were a deciding factor in 38 to 40 seats. The delegation claimed that it had data from the 2018 elections to prove this.
Their demands included the establishment of two minority residential schools to be managed by Christian educational organisations for Christian students in each of the 10 erstwhile combined districts and the revival of grant-in-aid posts in Christian minority institutions that were discontinued in 2004.
The delegation wanted five per cent of the weaker sections housing for the community and Rs 6 lakh housing subsidy for those who owned plots to build houses and two per cent reservation in government jobs.
Also on the list of demands was honorarium, health and accident insurance for pastors, priests, brothers and nuns, the allotment of 100 acres in the GHMC area and 10 acres in each district headquarters for burial grounds.
