Krishnaiah calls for bill on 50 percent political quota for BCs

- Calls on BCs not to vote for parties that do not allot 50% ticket to the community
- Speakers at BC Garjana call for unity among Backward Classes

Rajamahendravaram: BC Welfare Association national president R Krishnaiah demanded that the Central government table BC reservation bill in the ensuing Parliament session providing for 50 per cent reservation for BCs in legislative houses.

Participating as the chief guest in BC Garjana at Margani Estates here on Sunday, Krishnaiah said all the political parties were using BCs as vote banks at the time of elections and ignoring them later.

Backward Classes constitute 52 per cent of total population in the country as well as in Andhra Pradesh, and deserve half the seats in Parliament and state legislatures, he argued.

Advising BCs not to vote for political parties who do not allot half of the seats to BCs in the ensuing Assembly and parliament election, he said BCs should vote to BC candidate only based on the community, setting aside party affiliations. “This is the only way to capture power in the state and for upliftment of BCs in the country. Unity among BCs is very important achieve our goal. Many political parties are pointing out there is no unity among BCs and questioning how seats can be given,” he said.

Krishnaiah said out of 2,550 BC categories in the country, so far only a limited number of BCs entered Parliament and in AP, of the 144 BC categories, only BCs from 10 categories were elected to Assembly.

BC JAC chairman Margani Nageswara Rao said there was a dire need of unity among BCs to get 50 per cent of seats in the ensuing elections and prove their mettle. Hereafter BCs cannot be mere spectators and would teach a lesson to the political parties who deny their just quota in tickets, he added.

MLC Adireddy Appa Rao underlined the need to increase literacy among BCs and also stressed the importance of giving proper recognition to BCs in economically and socially. The government should sanction one BC residential school in each Assembly constituency, he said.

BC Welfare Association Andhra Pradesh state president K Shankar Rao, MLC R Subramanyam, PV Rao, C S Rao, R V Rao, Y Krishnudu, NG Krishna and several others leaders took part in the Garjana.