Hyderabad

Government Whip Adi Srinivas said that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had taken a historic step by introducing 42% quota for BCs in Telangana but the Centre failed to approve it, thereby reflecting its sincerity.

At a press conference here on Friday, he stated that the Telangana government conducted a caste census to ensure there were no legal hurdles in implementing BC reservations. “Though Revanth Reddy belongs to the Reddy community, he fought sincerely for the welfare of BCs,” Mr. Srinivas remarked, while questioning what the BJP’s eight MPs from Telangana had done for BC communities.

The Congress leader posed 10 questions to the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding clarity on issues including the delay in implementing a nationwide caste census, the absence of OBC enumeration in the first phase of the upcoming census, lack of sub-quota for OBC women in the Women’s Reservation Bill, delay in approving Telangana’s BC reservation Bill, continuation of the 50% reservation ceiling, absence of a dedicated OBC Ministry, low budgetary allocation for OBC welfare, non-expansion of OBC reservations proportional to population, lack of political reservations for OBCs in legislatures and incomplete implementation of Mandal Commission recommendations.

“The Prime Minister must answer the concerns of ‘BC children’ in Telangana,” he said.

Questioning the Centre’s approach to caste enumeration, he asked why the national census did not include a separate column for BC families among its 34 categories. He alleged that the BJP was avoiding a comprehensive caste census despite publicly supporting it.

Claiming that the BJP and the BRS were working together politically despite public confrontations, Mr. Adi Srinivas said both parties have no future in Telangana.