BCs fume as Congress cuts down on tickets to 22

​Hyderabad: Though the Congress said that it would ensure social justice in distribution of tickets, the number of names belonging to Backward Classes in its first and second lists and those to figure in the final list indicate that the grand old party failed in that endeavour. 

The castes of the nominees announced in the first and second list clearly indicates that the Congress has ignored the social justice slogan. Of the 75 candidates announced so far, only 15 belong to BCs. The high command of the party said that it would give seven more tickets to BCs in the final list taking the total number of tickets to BCs to 22. 

The Congress leaders say that if the seats to be given to the BCs in the alliance are also taken into consideration, the number of seats given to that community would be more than those given by the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi. 

If the first and second list of the Congress candidates are examined, leaders of Reddy community bagged 29, while Scheduled Castes got 14. Among BCs, Mudiraj community got 6, Gouda community got 4, Padmashalis got 1, Viswabrahmana got one and Yadavas got one. Other two seats have been given to other BC caste leaders. 

The Congress has been stating that this time it would assure social justice and it would strike a balance in distribution of tickets. However, the party seems to be far behind if its nominees social background is examined. 

In the previous elections, the Congress has given 37 tickets to BCs and this time, the number has gone down to 22. The percentage of BCs in the Congress list is less than 25 per cent. Already, the Congress has been strongly criticised by the BC community leaders that it has done injustice to them. Leaders of that community said that Congress has failed to give their due share to BCs in giving the tickets. 

National BC Welfare Association president R Krishnaiah alleged that the Congress did not give tickets to BCs as per their ratio in the society and stated that it could have given more than 35 per cent seats to BCs. Congress former MLA Bikshapathi Yadav has also alleged that the BCs were meted out with injustice. He was denied the ticket from Serilingampally constituency due to understanding with alliance partner, Telugu Desam. 

Party’s Ranga Reddy district unit president K Mallesh also made similar allegations. He was also denied the ticket from Ibrahimpatnam constituency. He is preparing to enter the field as rebel.  However, Congress leaders said that this time the party has given importance to winning chances of candidates in their selection and it has given tickets to BC leaders who have fair chances of victory.

The Congress is serious about winning the next election in the State as it would be life and death issue to it and has given importance to the winning chances of candidates to ensure victory in majority of the constituencies.