Key Points

Telangana Municipalities (Third Amendment) Bill, 2025 and Telangana Panchayat Raj (Third Amendment) Bill, 2025 were passed by voice vote after a brief but heated debate during which ruling Congress and main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) blamed each other for non-implementation of enhanced reservation for BCs.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy targeted previous BRS government for what he called slashing the BC reservation to bring overall reservations under 50 per cent cap.

The BRS questioned the commitment of the Congress government to fulfil its promise of 42 per cent BC quota. Its leader, K. T. Rama Rao, wanted to know why the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, was silent over the issue in the Parliament.

On the second day in the Assembly Session, the government tabled two Bills to enhance BC reservation in local bodies to 42 per cent by removing 50 per cent cap on the quota for all categories.

Minister for Backward Classes Welfare Ponnam Prabhakar said the government would implement 42 per cent reservation for BCs in the upcoming local body elections.

BRS member Gangula Kamalakar alleged that the government is not sincere over the BC reservation issue and wanted to know why the government did not take an all-party delegation to Delhi to demand Presidential approval for two Bills passed in March for 42 per cent BC reservations in education, jobs and local bodies.

Intervening in the debate, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy accused BRS of misleading the house. He alleged that the legislations passed by the previous BRS government became the main impediment to enhancing the BC quota.

He alleged that former Chief Minister and BRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao was against BC empowerment and creating hurdles for passing the Bills.

He said that the Panchayat Raj Act 2018 and Municipalities Act 2019, enacted during the BRS rule do not permit the increase of quota beyond 50 percent.

The Chief Minister said that the two Bills passed in March and sent to Governor were with the President for last five months. He said the government sent a draft ordinance to the Governor for 42 percent BC reservation in local bodies but the opposition party influenced the Governor and stalled its promulgation.

He questioned the BRS for not supporting the big dharna held at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

The Chief Minister also mentioned that the state government wrote letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi five times seeking an appointment, but the latter did not respond positively.

He urged the BJP floor leader in the Assembly, Payal Shankar, to help in getting an appointment with the Prime Minister.

Elaborating on the state government's "unstinted" efforts to increase BC quota, the Chief Minister said that the Dedication Commission was constituted as per the High Court orders. The government conducted a caste survey through the Dedication Commission to provide 42 per cent reservation.

He also mentioned that a caste survey was conducted and based on its findings, two Bills were drafted and the same were passed in March.

- IANS