Congress Wants 12% Quota For Muslims, STs Right Away

Welcoming the TRS government's move to fill 15,000 vacancies, the Leader of the Opposition in the Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir demanded that the state government immediately issue an ordinance to provide 12% quota each for Muslims and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in those jobs.

Speaking to the media at Gandhi Bhavan on Monday, Shabbir Ali said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had, during his election campaign in 2014, promised to provide over one lakh jobs. He had reduced that figure to 50,000 after he came to power. A year later, he promised to fill 25,000 vacancies, and finally, he had signed authorizing only 15,000 jobs.

Given that kind of track record, he was doubtful whether the Chief Minister would honor his promise of giving 12% quota each for Muslims and STs in government jobs, he said.

"This opportunity will not come again. Once these vacancies are filled, Muslims and STs will be permanently deprived of an opportunity to get government jobs. Therefore, the TRS government must issue an ordinance giving reservations to Muslims and STs in these 15,000 vacancies," he demanded.

Shabbir Ali also accused KCR of completely neglecting the welfare of the weaker sections. He added that the TRS government had also ignored the welfare of the farming community, and lamented that the Chief Minister did not care to hold a high-level review meeting yet despite the farmers losing almost 90% of their crops due to poor monsoons. (NSS)