Congress hits out at TRS for reducing reservation of BC in local polls

The Congress Thursday alleged that the TRS government in Telangana caused injustice to backward classes (BC) by reducing the percentage of reservations for them in rural local body elections to be held this month. "... by showing court orders as a pretext, in a way to reduce the previous 34 per cent reservation to 22 per cent, by reducing the quota by 12, the state government is discriminating weaker sections (backward classes)," former Congress MLA T Jeevan Reddy told reporters. Though the High Court had earlier directed that reservation is decided "technically on the basis of statistics," the TRS government did not respond to it, he claimed.

All political parties are seeking reservations (in local body polls) as per population, he said. Reddy also claimed that some officials indulged in irregularities with 2011 census in deciding reservations. BJP MLA Raja Singh and other party leaders submitted a memorandum to the Hyderabad district Collector on Monday, demanding that the previous 34 per cent reservation for backward classes in Gram Panchayat elections be resumed.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said last week that the state government issued an ordinance with a reduced quota for backward classes as the High Court ordered that local body elections be conducted by January 10, while the Supreme Court said the total percentage of reservations should not exceed 50 per cent. The Gram Panchayat elections in the state would be held in three phases, beginning January 7.

(With inputs from agencies.)