BJP National OBC morcha president K. Laxman said that the Backward Classes in Telangana have been thoroughly ‘deceived’ by the TRS Government in the last eight years by ignoring their demands for a ‘BC Sub Plan’, financial assistance, and appropriate representation in the Cabinet, among others.
Addressing a ‘BC Intellectuals’ Meet’ organised by the party here on Tuesday, the former MLA said that the State Government had even made an attempt to include 4 per cent quota for Muslims within the BC reservation, despite no legal or constitutional sanctity for reservations on religious lines. “Dr. B.R. Ambedkar himself had opposed such a quota,” he said.
Further, the TRS regime had reduced the BC quota in local bodies from 34% to 18% initiated by the N.T. Rama Rao Government and despite the Legislative Assembly discussing the proposed ‘BC Sub Plan’ for three days and passing scores of resolutions, nothing concrete has emerged out of it.
Giving 27 posts to BCs in the Union cabinet, constitutional status to the BC Commission, setting up of Justice Rohini Commission for categorisation and proposal to increase the income limit of the creamy layer, are all indications of the importance given to BC welfare by the BJP Government, claimed Mr. Laxman.
Advising the TRS Government to take a leaf from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, where BCs were given due representation in the revamped Cabinet, the BJP leader felt that only a “double engine” BJP government in Telangana and the Centre was the way to get justice.
TS BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar said that the demand for a ‘BC Bandhu’ on the lines of ‘Dalit Bandhu’ was being ignored by the TRS regime, which has also kept the 5.50 lakh applications seeking subsidy loans pending. “The MBC Corporation is defunct, and only ₹10 crore has been released as grants in all these years,” he said. Union Minister of State for Tourism, Ports & Shipping Sripada Yasho Naik, OBC morcha State president Ale Bhaskar Raaj and others also spoke.
