Revanth Reddy leads protest in Delhi over OBC quota

Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday alleged that the ruling party was pressurizing President Droupadi Murmu against giving an appointment to him and other representatives seeking her approval for two Bills sent by his government for 42 per cent OBC reservation in education, jobs and local body polls.

Reddy led the protest today, which was organized by the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee at Jantar Mantar while the Parliament is in session. He slammed the BJP’s stand that his government was introducing Muslim reservation in the guise of enhancing reservation for OBCs.

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Chief minister A Revanth Reddy today alleged that the BJP was trying to scuttle the increase in OBC reservation and pressurized the President of India into not giving an appointment to their delegation.

He said, “Two Bills are pending with the President of India. We have waited for four long months now, and we are demanding that the Bills be approved for implementing 42 percent reservation for OBCs in employment and education and local body polls. As Parliament is going on, we are fighting on the road and in the Parliament.

“We have requested for an appointment with the President of India but till now we haven’t gotten any appointment. Two days back, Narendra Modiji and Amit Shah had met the President. I think they are pressurizing the President into not giving an appointment to the Telangana people,” he said.

Reddy also tagged the protest as a fight between those favouring OBC reservation and those obstructing the enhancement in reservation. He even said that the BJP would be reduced to just 150 seats in the next election and the Congress would implement OBC reservation across the country.

“Rahul Gandhi is Pro-OBC and Narendra Modi is anti-OBC and this is the fight between Pro-OBC and Anti-OBC,” said Reddy.

Dismissing Telangana BJP’s charge that it was a reservation for Muslims in the guise of OBC reservation, Reddy hit back saying, “The Governor has accepted the Bills. If there were a separate reservation for Muslims or any other thing in the Bill, it would have been impossible to accept for the governor of Telangana. So, it is approved by the governor of Telangana, but how can they make such allegations? This political stand is not going to save the BJP.”

Reddy also took a dig at BRS working president KT Rama Rao, who dubbed the Congress protests as drama, pointing out that it was his family that was indulging in drama, referring to the ongoing sibling rivalry. The chief minister said one half of the family (Kavitha) was in favour of BC reservation, while the other half was against it.