T-Budget: Cong Worried About Muslim Reservation

Deputy CLP leader in the Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir alleged that the TRS government had hatched a larger conspiracy through the Budget Speech to avoid giving 12% reservation to Muslims in Telangana.

Speaking to media persons after the presentation of Telangana's first budget by Deputy Chief Minister Dr T Rajaiah in the Legislative Council on Wednesday, Shabbir Ali said that the TRS government had deliberately mentioned in the budget speech that minorities constituted nearly 11% of the total population in the State.

"This figure is completely wrong as according to the 2001 census, the minorities constitute about 12.4% of the total population. This is not a typographical error, but part of a larger conspiracy to stop Muslim reservation," he alleged.

"During the election speeches, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and other TRS leaders claimed that Muslims constituted nearly 14-15% of the total population. However, in the State's first budget speech, the TRS government not only skipped the mention of 12% Muslim reservation, but quoted the minorities as nearly 11% of the population. This would create legal hurdles, and this budget speech would be referred in the court challenging 12% reservation for a community which constitutes just 11% of the total population," Shabbir Ali added.

He also suspected the role of Advocate General Ramakrishna Reddy in this. It may be mentioned Ramakrishna Reddy had represented cases against 4% Muslim reservation in the courts in the past, and the Congress had objected to his appointment to the post of Advocate General after the formation of Telangana.

The Congress leader demanded that the State Government withdraw the population percentage of minorities mentioned in the budget and replace the same with the real figure, based on the 2011 Census.

The promise of giving 12% reservation to Scheduled Tribes also found no mention in the budget speech, Shabbir Ali pointed out. Also, there was no mention of from which academic year the KG-to-PG free education scheme would be implemented, he said.

Shabbir Ali also slammed the government for confining the figure of Telangana martyrs to 459 as against the previous claims of more than 2,000. He expressed regret that the government did not even bother to re-verify the list even after a widow of a Telangana martyr attempted suicide.

Similarly, there was just a passing remark on the suicides of farmers, with no mention of any financial assistance to be given to their families, he said.

He also ridiculed the claim made in the budget speech of Telangana generating 20,000 MW of power in the next five years. Challenging the Chief Minister on the issue, he offered to resign from his post if the TRS Government generated even 4,000 MW of power in the next four-and-a-half years of its regime.

He said that KCR should accept the challenge and say what he would do if he failed to generate 20,000 MW in the next five years.

Overall, Shabbir Ali said that the budget was anti-people, anti-poor, and completely out of focus and without any direction.

He said that the Congress party would grill the TRS government on all the issues concerning the common people. (INN)