Amaravati, Oct 9 (PTI) Senior YSRCP leaders Ch Venugopala Krishna and Dharmana Prasada Rao on Friday said the Supreme Court’s ruling against Andhra Pradesh government’s decision to accord 34 percent reservation for BCs in local bodies polls “exposed” Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s government.
The opposition leaders claimed that Naidu had promised 34 per cent reservation in the election manifesto despite being “fully aware of the legal ceiling on reservations, but failed to complete the statutory and constitutional process required to protect the quota.”
“The Supreme Court verdict on BC reservations had exposed the Chandrababu Naidu government’s failure to provide 34 per cent reservation to Backward Classes in local body elections,” they said in a party release.
On August 18, Naidu had informed the Assembly that the cabinet had taken three key decisions for BCs to enable their development, which include extending 34 per cent reservation in Rural Local Bodies.
However, the Supreme Court ruled against the 34 per cent quota.
Krishna alleged that the TDP-led NDA government had deliberately wasted time instead of creating a legally sustainable framework for these reservations.
Despite being a key partner (TDP) in the NDA government at the Centre, the former minister claimed that Naidu had not raised the issue strongly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
“If special efforts could be made in Parliament to provide legal backing to Amaravati, why was the same commitment not shown for 34 percent BC reservation,” he asked.
The YSRCP leader “rejected” the government’s proposal to compensate BCs through party-level seat allocation, saying political tickets and statutory reservations were fundamentally different.
He demanded the government to complete the required legal process and conduct local-body elections with 34 percent BC reservation as promised.
According to Rao, the TDP-led coalition government “knew” that aggregate reservations could not ordinarily cross the 50 percent ceiling, yet issued orders that failed judicial scrutiny.
Krishna and Rao asserted that YSRCP supremo YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had demonstrated “political commitment to BC representation even when statutory reservation faced judicial limitations.”
During the erstwhile YSRCP government between 2019 and 2024, BCs received four of 11 Rajya Sabha positions, 28 of 58 MLC positions, six of 13 Zilla Parishad Chairperson posts, nine of 13 mayor posts, 44 of 84 municipal chairperson posts and others, they said.
YSRCP would continue its fight until BCs receive statutory reservation and fair political representation, they added.
Echoing YSRCP, Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) vice president Kolanukonda Sivaji observed that he doesn’t know whether the Ganga-Cauvery river-linking project will ever become a reality but underscored that the TDP supremo has an opportunity to do a great service to the Backward Classes right now, advising him to avail that opportunity.
“The Prime Minister (Modi), who came to power with the support of the TDP-led alliance, has failed to honour the commitment made in the Parliament regarding the inclusion of an OBC column and code in the population census. BC communities across the country are expressing their anger and disappointment over this failure,” he said.
Since the TDP-led coalition government’s support was instrumental in bringing PM Modi to power, Sivaji demanded Naidu to “pressurise” the Union Government to include a separate OBC column in the population census as a compensation for the CM’s “failure” to secure 34 percent reservation for BCs in local body elections.
The APCC vice president recollected that during YS Rajasekar Reddy’s tenure as the CM of united Andhra Pradesh, the latter had “held discussions with Prime Minister (former) Manmohan Singh and conducted local body elections with 34 per cent reservations for BCs.”
In contrast, you (Naidu) have failed to secure the same benefit for BC communities, asserted Sivaji.
“After claiming credit and politically marketing the promise of 34 per cent BC reservations, what answer will the TDP give to the BC community for its failure to deliver? We demand that Naidu apologise to the BCs and explain this betrayal,” said the Congress leader.
He claimed that Naidu is well aware that Tamil Nadu and Karnataka implement reservation policies of up to 69 percent and 56 percent, respectively, under their respective legal frameworks.
Meanwhile, Naidu accused YSRCP of going to the court against the implementation of 34 percent reservations for BCs in local bodies polls.
“Though the Supreme Court has cancelled the (BC) reservations GO (govt order), we will do justice to BCs from the party (TDP) standpoint. Party-wise, we will give 34 percent seats to BCs,” said Naidu.
According to Naidu, TDP “alone” developed BCs socially and economically, who continue to stand by the party.
He alleged that the previous rulers failed to implement the 34 per cent reservation brought forth for BCs by the TDP and accused the YSRCP of cutting it down to 24 percent.
“As soon as the coalition government came to power, we raised BC reservations to 34 percent,” he said, accusing the YSRCP of “filing cases” against its implementation.
Naidu promised that the TDP would continue to support Backward Classes and ensure their representation through the party.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an appeal filed by the Andhra Pradesh government challenging a high court order striking down two government orders providing 34 per cent reservation for backward classes in local body elections. PTI STH SA
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