In an obvious reference to the TRS government’s proposal to extend 12 per cent reservation to Muslims, the Union Urban Development Minister, M. Venkaiah Naidu, opined that reservation based on religion was not acceptable as it was unconstitutional and may lead to conversions and increase hostility among religions.
Interacting with party leaders at the BJP State office here on Saturday, Mr. Naidu made the party’s intentions clear and said religion-based reservation would not stand legal scrutiny.
He appreciated party State president K. Laxman’s response to the State government’s proposal.
Taking an indirect dig at Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyan, he said it was the BJP that supported Jallikattu and passed an ordinance while some people were projecting the party as that which opposed the sport and was biased against south India.
On the issue of special status to Andhra Pradesh, he said parties seeking it did not work towards achieving the same. The BJP was giving all that was promised in the special status and more except the ‘special status’ tag.
He said industrialists attending the CII summit in Visakhapatnam did not demand special status to invest. They need excellent infrastructure, power and good governance and all that is taken care of by the government.
Mr. Naidu exhorted the partymen to approach people with confidence on the demonetisation issue as they had received it positively and had faith in the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s integrity.
The demonetisation move has enhanced Mr. Modi’s image and the cadre should reach out to people confidently as the country needs Mr. Modi for another 10 years for bringing in the required transformation.
He listed a series of achievements under the NDA rule, including how Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States have overcome the power crisis.
He said increasing number of tax payers in the country would reduce the tax burden on all. Demonetisation would bring in transparency while the government’s revenues would increase leading to more development programmes.
