Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has said that he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of NITI Aayog meeting convened by the latter in New Delhi on April 23 to press the case of enhanced reservations in Telangana.
Mr. Rao said while moving the Bill on reservations in Assembly that he will also contact chief ministers of other States well before April 23 to join his voice seeking inclusion of the legislation of Telangana on reservations in Schedule IX of the Constitution to get immunity from 50 % overall upper limit on quota.
He promised separation of Telangana SC/ST Commission to have an exclusive SC Commission to study increase in quota for that section of people also. The government was set to increase the quota for SCs by one per cent in relation to their population.
BC quota hike
He allayed apprehensions about reservations for BCs going down on account of enhancement of quota for Muslims and said it will be increased for BCs also.
Appealing to the Central government that 50 % ceiling on reservations as laid down by Constitution was not enough and needed hike due to diverse social composition of the country, he asked the Centre to see sense in allowing the State governments flexibility to have their own quotas. The States will ensure there was no conflict between social groups. A matured democracy was the need of the hour, he said. Mr. Rao warned that the State government will land the reservations issue in Supreme Court if the Centre did not permit the hike. In any case, the 69 per cent reservations in Tamil Nadu by including them in Schedule IX was already under consideration of the Apex court. The Centre was also bound to accept Telangana proposal under Schedule IX because such a concession was given to Tamil Nadu.
