Hyderabad: Irked by the Ordinance brought out by the Telangana government prescribing 23.24 per cent reservations to Backward Classes in the Gram Panchayat polls, the BC Association has threatened to launch a statewide agitation if the government did not concede their demand of 34 per cent reservations.
The erstwhile AP government in 2013 conducted the elections in the combined state by prescribing 34 per cent reservations to the BCs armed with an interim order from the Supreme Court against the High Court order to hold the reservations within the 50 per cent cap. The election was held in 2013 with reservations of 60.55 per cent seats and offices in PR bodies for SCs, STs and BCs.
Though this time the Telangana government moved the Apex Court with an appeal to allow it to provide 34 per cent quota to the BCs, the top court rejected the appeal of the state government and made it clear that the reservations shall not exceed 50 per cent.
Though initially Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao thought of giving 34 per cent in the ensuing elections to Gram Panchayats, his government finally issued an Ordinance to avoid legal complications in view of the Apex Court order.
Several BC welfare organisations, headed by Justice V. Eswraiah, former judge and former chairman of the National BC Commission, and politicians including V. Hanumantha Rao, R. Krishnaiah, Dasoju Sravan and Srinivas Goud demanded that the state government increase reservations to 34 per cent.
Their contention is that the erstwhile AP government had prescribed the 34 quota in 1994 under the AP Panchayat Raj Act and the 50 cap could not be applicable for political reservations. It was applicable for reservations in education and public employment.
As many as 19 BC Organizations have convened a meeting on December 19 to decide the future course of action and launch the agitation.
