No Party Ready To Promote BC Leaders: Teenmar Mallanna

MLC Teenmar Mallanna today said that no political party in Telangana was willing to provide opportunities for BC leaders.

He announced that he would field BC candidates in eight Assembly constituencies in Nizamabad district in the next elections.

Speaking at a press conference in Nizamabad, Mallanna asked what MLC K Kavitha, who had earlier won the Nizamabad MP seat on a BRS ticket, had done for the BCs in the district. He said that despite a BC population of 25 lakh in the undivided Nizamabad district, there was not a single prominent BC leader, and that Gampa Govardhan, elected from Kamareddy, was the only BC MLA. He alleged that even this lone BC seat was taken away in the last Assembly elections by former CM K Chandrashekar Rao, a Velama leader.

He said that no political party had given a fair chance to BCs in the joint Nizamabad district. Citing an example, he said Bodhan MLA Sudarshan Reddy, a non-BC, was given a ticket seven times, whether he won or lost. Mallanna also expressed regret that BC leader Bajireddy Govardhan was repeatedly shifted to different constituencies in every election. He said that the BC JAC was campaigning for the political liberation of Nizamabad district from the dominance of upper castes.

Referring to the caste census, Mallanna said that the OC population in the State was only 15%, yet enjoyed disproportionate representation. "I urge Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to acknowledge this and step aside, giving rightful space to BCs," he said. Lashing out at both the BJP and the BRS for "deliberately evading the issue of 42% BC reservations", he demanded that the State government increase BC reservations to 60% from the current 42%, and allocate nine ministerial berths to BC leaders in the Cabinet.

He declared that the BC JAC would continue to fight for BC rights in Telangana.