New Delhi, Jul 23 (PTI) Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday said the 2029 Lok Sabha polls will be a litmus test for OBC reservation in the country as he requested the Centre to raise the OBC reservation cap and adopt the Telangana model for implementing a 42-per cent quota for them, in accordance with the state’s caste survey.
Addressing the media at his residence here, Reddy said he is in the national capital to seek the support of various political parties and press upon the Centre to provide more reservation to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) based on the Telangana model of caste survey to raise the reservation cap for them to 42 per cent in education, local bodies, health and development.
Reddy is in Delhi to apprise the Congress leadership and MPs about the caste survey conducted by the Telangana government from 2024 to 2025, after which OBC reservation was raised to 42 per cent in the southern state.
“We, on behalf of the government and MPs of Telangana, would be meeting Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday and apprise them of the caste census conducted in Telangana.
“We started this exercise on February 4, 2024 and completed it on February 4, 2025. We have decided to celebrate February 4 as Social Justice Day every year. We have conducted a meticulously, scientific survey and passed a resolution and a bill to provide 42 per cent OBC reservation in employment and in local bodies’ elections,” he said.
Reddy said his government has sent two bills to the Centre through the governor, but the Union government is not acting on those for the last several months.
Since the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha are functioning during the Monsoon session of Parliament, they have come here to raise their issues, he added.
“We would urge Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge to help us in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. We would also tell our MPs about the process adopted for the meticulous work of conducting the caste survey in Telangana.
“We did an analysis of the data compiled by the committee headed by Justice Sudarshan Reddy that included several experts. We would use this data in Telangana in providing political reservation and reservation in education, health, welfare, development. We now want to request the MPs of all parties to implement the Telangana model in the central government and other bodies,” he stressed.
Reddy said this is not for any individual, but for an entire community and caste, as it has come after 100 years and the members of OBC communities need such reservation.
“The 2029 Lok Sabha election is the litmus test for raising OBC reservation. The Centre was earlier not ready to include caste enumeration in the census and Telangana has shown the way by conducting such an exercise.
“By compulsion, the government of India has agreed to accept this caste census and we will show the path forward to the (Narendra) Modi government and act as a torchbearer,” the Telangana chief minister said.
To a question on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) demand that Muslim reservation should go, Reddy said, “I dare the BJP to remove the reservation for Muslims in Gujarat, the prime minister’s home state, Uttar Pradesh, from where he contests Lok Sabha polls, and Maharashtra, where the RSS is headquartered. You are not ready to provide reservation to the OBC and are using the bogie of Muslim reservation.” Reddy said they had come to Delhi during the Budget session of Parliament, staged a dharna at Jantar Mantar in support of OBC reservation and sought the support of several parties and MPs. “We would seek their support now as well,” he added. PTI SKC RC RC
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