‘KCR concealing BC population to deny them power’

BC organisations demand reservations during elections on basis of population

A meeting of the backward class organisations here on Thursday voiced the view that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had deliberately concealed the BC population, as arrived at in the integrated household survey taken up by the State government a few years ago, because the numbers were very high.

At a meeting demanding BC reservations in the upcoming Gram Panchayat (GP) elections commensurate with their population, TDP MLA and president of National BCs Welfare Association R. Krishnaiah said the survey had shown the BC population in rural areas stood at 56% to 58% while it was 52% per cent in urban areas. So, the reservation of gram panchayats for BCs should go up from the present 34% to 56%. But, the government aimed to bring down the percentage to 23 with a view to deny the BCs political power in villages.

“The upper castes want to suppress BCs because they will not get hands to work for them in villages if the latter are empowered,” Mr. Krishnaiah said.

Telangana Congress Committee president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy assured the Chief Minister that the Congress will back him if the reservations were extended on population basis. He denied Mr. Rao’s charge that the Congress filed a case in the court on reservations issue to stall the election process. It has become a habit for Mr. Rao to issue orders on public policy that do not stand legal scrutiny. When the orders are held up in courts, he would blame Congress, he added.

Another Congress leader P. Vinay Kumar reminded that the Supreme Court allowed 69% reservation to BCs in Tamil Nadu solely because the State enumerated BC population and presented “quantifiable data” to the court as sought by it. Karnataka failed to do so and did not get similar concession. Here, in Telangana, an intensive household survey was done but the results were not declared.

Dr. Vinay Kumar said the government gathered caste-wise data of BC population during the survey to gain mileage in elections.

Former Rajya Sabha member V. Hanumantha Rao said the Chief Minister had committed himself to reservations on the basis of population. So, the BCs must get their due. Former TDP Minister E. Peddi Reddy and State president of BC organisations Erra Satyanarayana also spoke.