As elections to the local bodies in Telangana draw near, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy-led Telangana Congress has delivered a masterstroke to the opposition parties — Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — by bringing the issue of BC (Backward Classes) reservations to the forefront.
The Revanth Reddy government not only passed bills providing 42% reservations for BCs in education, employment, and local bodies in the state assembly but also sent them to the Centre, thereby placing the onus on the BJP-led Union government for approval.
With elections approaching, the Revanth Cabinet has approved an ordinance to implement the 42% BC quota in local bodies and forwarded it to Governor Jishnu Dev Varma for assent.
The Telangana High Court has already directed the state government to conduct local body elections before September 30. Accordingly, the government now intends to enforce the reservations through the ordinance route.
The Dedicated Commission will submit its recommendations regarding BC reservations in local bodies.
Based on these, the state government will finalize the quota and forward the proposal to the State Election Commission.
Meanwhile, the BRS, which had largely ignored the BC quota issue over the past decade, now finds itself in a fix over how to regain the confidence of BC voters in the upcoming local body elections.
Ironically, BRS MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha — daughter of party president K Chandrasekhar Rao — had actively championed the cause, demanding 42% BC reservations in local bodies.
She staged protests and even threatened a "Rail Roko" agitation scheduled for July 17.
Yet, she received no support from her own party, giving the impression that the BRS was indifferent to the BC cause — a perception that is proving inconvenient for its rural cadre during the election season.
Now, the BRS leadership has belatedly shifted its stance and started raising the BC issue.
The party organized a protest at Indira Park on Tuesday, accusing the Congress of decades-long injustice toward BCs since Independence.
The BRS now claims that the Congress government has betrayed BCs yet again by failing to provide legal backing for implementing the promised 42% reservations in education, employment, and local bodies.
Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, S Madhusudana Chari, accused the Revanth Reddy government of deceit and betrayal.
He said the Congress had failed BCs historically by avoiding a caste census, not creating a dedicated BC ministry, and excluding them from key roles.
“Betraying BCs again by not securing reservations will prove disastrous for the Congress,” he warned.
Rajya Sabha MP Vaddiraju Ravichandra criticized the Congress for playing politics with ordinances and failing to press the Centre for approval of the reservation bills passed by the state legislature.
He demanded that local body elections be postponed until legal assurance of the 42% BC quota is provided.
Former ministers Talasani Srinivas Yadav, Gangula Kamalakar, and V. Srinivas Goud echoed the sentiment, accusing the Congress of willful negligence.
“If BC reservations are denied, we will take the fight to the people,” they asserted.
However, analysts believe it may be too late for the BRS to win back BC support in the local elections.
“The party seems to be banking on the assumption that the Governor won’t approve the ordinance. And even if he does, they expect someone to challenge it in court, causing the quota implementation to stall,” one observer remarked.
