Nothing in Constitution limits quota to 50 per cent : KCR

Hyderabad: Mentioning that the Supreme Court’s judgement in which it was laid down that reservations should not exceed 50 per cent was wrong, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Thursday said that there was nothing in the Constitution which limited reservations to 50 per cent. The Chief Minister was addressing a public meeting in Adilabad. 

The population of Muslims and STs had increased after formation of Telangana, KCR said. “The Prime Minister says, it (increasing reservations) will not happen... Is the country your jagir? Why will you not do it? Don’t you see poverty among Muslims? How long do you do politics of religion,” Chandrashekar Rao asked.

Chandrashekar Rao said: “Supreme Court of India gave a judgement that the reservations should not exceed 50 per cent as per Constitution. That is wrong... the Centre has the responsibility to amend and they should have done this by now. Even BCs, poor among forward castes are seeking this. The country will not develop until these two parties go; hence, I am proposing Federal Front.” 

The Chief Minister lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah for their criticism of the TRS government. “Mr Modi, Mr Amit Shah, answer if you have guts. You are in power in 19 states. Is there 24-hour free power for farmers in your states? Did you waive loans of the farmers? Did you give Rs 1,000 as pension to beneficiaries? You have done nothing in your states, but you are criticising us. What has the BJP leader done except talking in ‘Man ki Baat’... Do you think we are uneducated? 25 years before China was poor and today China is number two and there is still poverty in India,” said Rao. 

Chandrashekar Rao said that though India was democratic country, there was no maturity among people, especially during the elections. “If there is good democracy and maturity, parties will not win, people and their interests win and what they expect will be done during the next five years,” said Rao. There were only two sides, one is Congress-TDP alliance and other is TRS. The middle party is not there in Telangana, he added. The TRS chief spoke partly in Hindi, considering Hindi-speaking people living in the bordering district. 

At Mancherial, Chandrashekar Rao said that he would introduce additional welfare programmes in the coming years. There is no scheme in the country like Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Beema. There should be prosperity in all sections of society.  Pointing out that local development was on fast track only after Asifabad was formed into a district, KCR asked people to be cautious considering that these elections were crucial. He asked the people of Asifabad to discuss among themselves and decide who would be better (rulers) for them. 

Later, speaking at  Sirpur, Chandrashekar Rao said that people of the constituency knew well who was responsible for closure of industries in Sirpur. “Chandrababu Naidu says he constructed Hyderabad... if Hyderabad was constructed by you. What our Quli Qutub Shah has done,” asked Rao.  

The TRS president asked the people of Chennur to elect Suman as MLA, stating that he was like his son. “Suman is like my son KTR, he often takes lunch with me in my house. It’s not that he is not eligible for MP... we decided to accommodate others in the Lok Sabha seat; hence making Suman to contest from here. He will not be like any other MLA... he will fight with me for your development. If you make Suman win in Chennur, it will be like making KTR victorious,” said Rao. He recalled that there were still 64 cases pertaining to separate state agitation and added that Suman also has many such cases pending against him.