BRS chants BC mantra, to study TN quota, schemes

Hyderabad: With the two national parties giving priority to the backward classes, the BRS is now focusing on the BCs. A delegation of the party leaders will visit Tamil Nadu to study the 69 per cent reservationand schemes for BCs.

According to party leaders, the delegation will visit Tamil Nadu under the leadership of BC leader and former Speaker of Telangana Assembly S Madhusudhana Chary. The delegation includes BRS deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, Vaddiraju Ravichandra, V Srinivas Goud, L Ramana, K Chander, and B Bikshamaiah Goud. The party leadership has sought an appointment of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and Education and BC Welfare Minister RS Rajakannappan. The leaders will leave for Chennai tentatively on Thursday.

A meeting of the BC leaders—who are supposed to meet Stalin—was held in the Telangana Bhavan. Sources said BRS working president KT Rama Rao had asked the team to study the schemes for BCs and submit a report to the party.

Tamil Nadu is the only state where reservations are provided to 69 per cent of the population, which is more than the 50per cent limit prescribed by the Supreme Court. The party will study how the government could reach out to BC communities with popular schemes, said a senior leader.

Sources said the party had shifted the focus to BCs after the two national parties, like the Congress and BJP, have given importance to the biggest community in the state. The Congress has announced a BC as the PCC president; the BJP is expected to follow. During the Assembly elections in 2023, the BJP had gone ahead to announce the BC as the CM candidate.

Stung with these developments, the BRS had recently organised a meeting with BCs at Telangana Bhavan. After the meeting, it had demanded the government take up enumeration of BCs as promised before the elections. KTR had asked the government to hold the local body election only after taking up surveys of BCs. Leaders said that the Tamil Nadu visit will help the party in understanding schemes that can be emulated in the state.