Hyderabad: Congress leaders from the BC community on Tuesday decided to endorse Rahul Gandhi's resolve to abolish the 50 per cent ceiling on reservation while also pressing the Union government to carry out a fresh caste census.
After the conclusion of the ‘Haath se Haath Jodo abhiyan’, the BC leaders have decided to organise ‘BC Garjana’ public meeting to highlight the issue that affects the majority of the population as well as awareness campaigns in several districts.
Hanumantha Rao, former convener of the OBC Forum of MPs, who organised the conference on Tuesday, chalked out a strategy for the BC outreach programmes in the state. Rao urged the party leaders to expose the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre for failing to “fulfil commitments made to OBCs”.
"It was all due to the efforts of the Congress government that those from Backward Castes were able to get seats in premium institutions like IIT and IIM," he explained.
He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ignoring the OBCs and claimed that it was the Congress party that worked to improve their lot. He claimed that the majority of OBC programmes were successfully implemented during the Congress government.
Former minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah recalled how, during his stint as PCC chief, the Congress fielded the highest number of BC candidates. He bemoaned that the TRS (now BRS), which created hoopla surrounding the formation of the BC Commission, eventually failed to follow its recommendations.
The programme was attended by PCC working president, B Mahesh Kumar Goud, senior leaders G. Niranjan, A. Shyam Mohan, Mahila Congress state president M. Sunita Rao, R. Laxman Yadav PCC general secretary, former state Youth Congress general secretary S P Kranthi Kumar and others.
