The BC Ikya Vedika, an umbrella organisation of several BC associations, based here will lobby with all major political parties to increase the number of party tickets being allotted to Backward Classes candidates in the coming general elections in 2014.
BC Ikya Vedika president Buddha Nageswara Rao said 52 per cent of the population belonged to the backward classes, but this was not reflected in the Legislative bodies and in the government services.
While the BCs should be holding 148 seats in the State Assembly, there were only 70 BC MLAs and only 25 per cent of the State government employees were BCs, he said.
The vedika would be launching a campaign for increase in the number of BC MLAs. It would approach all the major political parties and request them to field only BC candidates in 148 Assembly constituencies.
“It is not enough if the parties give ticket to BC candidates. Many of them are not able to win against forward caste candidates that are in the fray. It is therefore necessary for all major political parties to field only BC candidates in 148 Assembly constituencies. Then the winners of all will be BCs without fail,” Mr. Nageswara Rao said.
‘Deceptive declarations’
The BC Ikya Vedika was also striving for better representation amongst the BCs, he said. “Most of the BC MLAs belong to the bigger communities like Yadav and Gowda and they were being elected repeatedly in all elections. But a large number of BCs who belong to smaller communities are kept far away from the corridors of power. The vedika, which stands for social justice, will see that even the smaller BC communities get a chance,” Mr Nageswara Rao said.
The so-called BC declarations being made by different political parties were deceptive and aimed at wooing the vote bank, he said. He said the vedika would begin their campaign by submitting a memorandum to Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy. The leaders would then meet the heads of other major political parties, he said.
