Telangana local body elections: Congress to give 42% seats to BCs even without reservations

Hyderabad: The ruling Congress here will give Backward Classes (BC) group 42% reservations in the coming Telangana local body elections even if the ordinance passed by the government is not accepted by the President of India.

In view of the upcoming Telangana local body elections (likely to be held by September) the Congress government here promised reservation of 42% seats for Backward Classes (BC) passed the Telangana Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Ordinance. It was pending approval from governor Jishnu Dev Varma, who had sent it to the President for approval. It is required to increase the enhance BC reservations to 42%.

However, with the state high court ordering the Telangana court to hold elections by the end of September, time is running out as the ordinance is now pending for approval with the President of India. “We have to wait and watch. Mostly it will not happen but from the party’s side we will give BCs 42% of seats. With the Congress president being a Goud and a BC member himself it will make a big difference,” said a senior Congress leader.

MLC Mahesh Kumar Goud and senior Congress party member is currently the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president. Incumbent chief minister Revanth Reddy held the position before him, and Mahesh Kumar’s appointment to the post is an attempt by the ruling party to bring all BC communities to it side.

However it is to be seen if that happens. While BCs over all occupy about 47% of Telangana’s population, it is split among many communities like Gouds, Yadavs, Padmashalis, Mudiraj etc. Even the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government had promised them 50% reservation local body elections but the plan did not go through.

For the coming Telangana local body elections, even BJP state president Ram Chander Rao has promised to give 42% of seats to BC candidates.

“There is no consolidated BC vote currently. The Congress here is trying to get them all under one umbrella to create a vote bank. As of now no one community is loyal to a party, and are split. Among Backward Classes there are several communities and classifications. The current party president is a Goud from the BC community so that will work to our advantage but we are also trying to create a bigger voter base,” the Congress leader from Hyderabad told Siasat.com.