Hyderabad: Stepping up his attack on the Congress ahead of municipal elections in Telangana, Union coal minister G Kishan Reddy on Friday accused the ruling party of pursuing ‘religion-based politics’ under the cover of welfare and social justice, alleging that its policies would seriously harm Backward Classes in the state.Kishan Reddy said that, in Telangana, the name ‘Muslim League Congress’ suited the Congress party well. He recalled that chief minister A Revanth Reddy had on several occasions stated that “Congress means Muslims, and Muslims mean Congress.” He also pointed out that the CM had said the govt would submit documents to the Supreme Court to ensure the permanence of the 4% reservation for Muslims. When the Congress introduced 4% Muslim reservations in the undivided Andhra Pradesh, the high court struck them down twice as unconstitutional. Despite this, the Congress approached the Supreme Court, obtained a stay, and implemented the reservations, he said in a post on social media. BC numbers reducedThe Union minister further alleged that under the guise of a caste survey, the Congress govt had recently conducted an exercise aimed at significantly reducing the BC population in Telangana. The actual BC population in the state is 46%, he said. However, by including 10% Muslims in the BC category, the Congress claimed that BCs constituted 56% of the population. He said the govt then provided 42% reservations in local bodies for BCs and Muslims together. After granting 10% reservations to Muslims, the existing 34% quota for BCs effectively comes down to 32%. If the court does not stay these orders, the BC community would suffer greatly, he warned. Kishan Reddy said the consequences of forcibly including non-BCs in BC categories were already evident to the people of Telangana. He cited the 2020 GHMC elections, where 50 of the 150 seats were reserved for BCs, but non-BC candidates won 31 of those seats. “This means that AIMIM effectively captured 62% of the seats allocated to BCs. When reservations intended for BC empowerment are thus misdirected, how will true BCs receive justice?” he asked. By providing 4% reservations on religious grounds and adding another 10%, the Congress is now attempting to unlawfully include Muslims in the BC category, directly harming genuinely eligible BCs, he alleged.
