Assembly nod for Bills to lift 50% quota limit

Hyderabad: The Telangana Assembly on Sunday unanimously passed two Bills viz. the Telangana Panchayat Raj (Third Amendment) Bill, 2025 and the Telangana Municipalities (Third Amendment) Bill, 2025, thereby removing the 50 per cent upper ceiling on reservations in local bodies and paving the way for the implementation of the 42 per cent reservation assured to Backward Classes in the upcoming elections to local bodies.

Noticeably, the Bills have been passed at a time when two Bills and an Ordinance to the same effect are awaiting assent of the President.

The House witnessed heated arguments between members in the treasury and the opposition benches during a discussion on the Bill. The Municipalities Bill was introduced by Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu on behalf of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and the Panchayat Raj Bill was introduced by Panchayat Raj Minister Dhansari Anasuya (Seethakka) in the Assembly on Sunday. Participating in the debate, Sridhar Babu alleged that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi wanted the reservations to be implemented after 10years; hence, they were bringing the issue under the IXth schedule, which is under the purview of the Centre. The Minister demanded a clear approach by the BRS and Bharatiya Janata Party on the issue. While the SCs and STs were getting reservations based on their population, the BCs were unable to get the same because of the hindrance of 50 per cent upper limit. The Minister recalled that their party leader Rahul Gandhi had promised during the elections that they would bring an amendment in Schedule IX if the party came to power at the Centre.

The BJP should give clarity on the reservation issue as the state government had already conducted a socio-economic, education, employment, political and caste survey to obtain comprehensive and scientific data by collecting data from all households.

Besides, a dedicated commission was formed for conducting study on the extent of backwardness of the BCs.

BRS member Gangula Kamalakar cautioned the government on hasty decisions on the reservations. He said that the reservations issue should be included in the IXth schedule and only then it would have protection. If the government follows due process, he would be the first person to be happy. He questioned why 20 months of time was wasted to pass the ill.

Intervening during the discussion, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said that former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao brought the Act limiting reservations to 50 per cent which turned out to be the biggest hurdle for increasing the BC quota. KCR government imposed the limit as he is against BC empowerment.

“We brought the Ordinance because there was no House and since today there is House, the Bill was brought to lift the ceiling,” said Revanth Reddy.

Regarding taking a delegation to the Centre on this issue, Revanth Reddy said that he had sought an appointment with the Prime Minister five times but there was no response.

The government took up dharna in Delhi in which over 100 MPs from different parties came but none of the BRS MPs came to support the cause of the BCs, he stated. “It is not the Kalvakuntla family, it is the ‘Kalvakunta family’ which does not want BCs and other communities to unite.

Meanwhile, BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, during a chit chat, said that the government would go for elections only after providing 42 per cent reservations. He said that the government would take an all-party delegation to the Governor. He mentioned that they had sought the appointment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Draupadi Murmu but there was no response from them.

The Minister said that they would appraise the Governor of the situation in Telangana. The state governments have the right to take decisions on the elections regionally. This decision was taken only after studying the legal aspects. The Governor should take into consideration the unanimity among the members.