KCR’s Reservation Bill is faulty: Digvijay Singh

Hyderabad: AICC General Sectaray Digvijay Singh has described the Telangana Reservation Bill, passed by the State Legislature recently to enhance quota for Muslims and STs, as faulty and feared that it might jeorpardise the ongoing 4% Muslim reservation in the State.

Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Friday, Digvijay Singh said that he was unable to understand the logic of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao behind introducing the Reservation Bill.

He said that the State Government was empowered to increase the reservation percentage for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportionate to their population in the State, as per last Census. Therefore, he said the quota could have been increased by just issuing a GO (Government Order) and it required no special legislation.

However, he said that the TRS Government not only brought a legislation to increase ST reservation from 6% to 10%, but also merged it with BC-E reservation meant for socially and educationally backward groups of Muslims.

Digvijay Singh said that the case of 4% Muslim reservation, introduced by previous YSR Government, was pending in the Supreme Court. Although the BC Commission proposed increase in Muslim quota to 10%, KCR increased it to 12% which might be challenged in the court.

Further, the moment overall reservation crossed the 50% ceiling set by the Supreme Court, it was bound to be challenged in the country. “My apprehension is that it will jeopardise the existing 4% reservation which Muslims are getting at the moment, because that will be



again reopened.

The whole exercise of TRS Government is basically to confuse the issue and make it contentious so that it is challenge in the court and gets stalled,” he said.

He accused KCR of taking everyone in the State for a ride by making fake promises and giving false hopes through a law which is by itself fault. He said that the Congress party supports reservation and therefore, its legislators supported the Bill. However, he said that the Congress leaders have also expressed their apprehensions on the damages that might be caused due to the faulty Bill.

The Congress leader said that the TRS Government has opened many windows of controversies. He said when Muslims, with a population of a little over 13% population are getting 12% reservation, the BCs with 52% population would demand increase in their quota from present 25% to 50%.

He said that the Reservation Bill has been designed to be faulty so that it could create confusion and make the entire issue contentious. He ridiculed the claims of KCR that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would support the Reservation Bill.

He said Modi, as the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, had refused to even distribute scholarships to Muslims students given by the Central Government. Therefore, Narendra Modi cannot be expected to support the Muslim Reservation, he said.

He also alleged that TRS and BJP were secret partners which was visible from the fact that both Modi and KCR openly praises each other. He said TRS has given BJP an issue by bringing Reservation Bill.