Hyderabad: Among the questions posed by the Opposition, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti is finding it most difficult to answer those regarding the reservations that it had promised to Muslims. It had promised to increase reservations to Muslims to 12 per cent and for Scheduled Tribes from six to 10 per cent.
Doing so will take the reservations past the 50 per cent limit set by the Supreme Court. Besides, the Centre is against giving reservations on the basis of religion. With the TRS unable to deliver on its promises, it is being pummelled by both the BJP and the Prajakutami.
Both the Congerss and the BJP have questioned caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on the matter of reservations for Muslims, albeit from different angles. While the TPCC has questioned Mr Rao for not delivering on the promise, BJP president Amit Shah pointed out the dangers of doing so.
Mr Shah claimed that increasing the reservations for Muslims to 12 per cent would be at the cost of quotas for the SC, ST and BC communities. He said their reservations would be cut in order to provide 12 per cent reservations for Muslims as the Supreme Court had seta a 50-per cent cap on quotas.
The TRS will now have to come out with a new strategy to overcome the problems and implement the promise of enhanced reservations.
The TRS government has completed its pre statutory requirement by constituting a BC Commission for an inquiry that is required to provide 12 per cent reservations to Muslims. It also passed a Bill in the Assembly and forwarded it to Centre for incorporation in Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, as was done in the case of Tamil Nadu, which would place it beyond judicial review.
The BJP-led NDA government rejected the request on the grounds of reservations crossing the cap of 50 per cent which is contrary to the Supreme Court judgement. The TRS has hit back by asking for greater power to fix reservations with the state.
