Battle Over BC Quota Heats Up in Telangana Ahead of Local Body Elections
As Telangana gears up for its local body elections, political parties are locked in an escalating tug-of-war over the issue of reservation for Backward Classes (BCs). With the High Court recently directing the state to hold panchayat polls within three months, the reservation issue has taken center stage in the political narrative.
The ruling Congress, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are all aggressively vying to position themselves as champions of BC rights, as they seek to woo this influential voter base.
Political Firestorm over Reservation Bills
At the core of the debate are two key bills passed by the Telangana Assembly on March 17, 2025, seeking to increase BC reservations to 42 per cent in education, public employment, and representation in rural and urban local bodies. These bills — The Telangana Backward Classes, SCs, and STs (Reservation in Education and Employment) Bill, 2025, and The Telangana Backward Classes (Reservation in Local Bodies) Bill, 2025 — aim to enhance quotas from the existing 25–23 per cent levels.
However, since the proposed 42 per cent quota exceeds the Supreme Court-mandated 50 per cent cap, the bills require Presidential assent and possible inclusion in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to become law — placing the ball squarely in the Centre’s court.
Kavitha’s ‘Rail Roko’ and Political Letters
BRS MLC K. Kavitha, daughter of former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, has intensified the pressure campaign with a planned ‘Rail Roko’ protest on July 17, demanding immediate Presidential assent for the reservation bills. She also wrote to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge during his recent Hyderabad visit, urging the Congress government to delay elections until the quota is implemented.
Kavitha questioned the silence of national Congress leaders like Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, and challenged Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to lead an all-party delegation to the Centre to resolve the issue.
Meanwhile, she also reached out to newly appointed Telangana BJP president Ramchander Rao, demanding that the BJP secure the Centre’s nod for the bills. “If the BJP is truly committed to OBC welfare, it must act now,” she stated.
Congress Counters BRS
In response, Telangana Congress chief Mahesh Kumar Goud accused Kavitha of hypocrisy, noting that she had not raised the issue when her party was in power for nearly a decade.
Kharge, while launching the Congress’s local body poll campaign on July 4, reiterated the party’s commitment to pushing the Centre for BC reservations and highlighted the promise made in the party’s 2023 BC Declaration.
The Congress is now exploring legal options to implement the quota independently. The government is reportedly considering invoking Article 243D(6) of the Constitution, which empowers states to determine reservations in local bodies based on empirical data — in this case, the recent caste survey, which showed that BCs constitute 56.33 per cent of Telangana’s population (including 10 per cent BC Muslims).
BJP Pushes Back
BJP state chief Ramchander Rao hit back, stating that the onus to implement BC reservations lies with the state, not the Centre. He challenged the Congress to prove its sincerity by acting within its existing powers. Rao also cited possible legal hurdles, suggesting that the Congress may be using the issue as a political tool rather than pursuing genuine social justice.
Outlook
With the local body elections looming, all eyes are on how the state government will proceed. Political analysts believe that Congress may attempt to implement the 42 per cent quota before the polls to claim electoral credit, even if the Centre delays action.
As each party jockeys for position, the issue of BC reservation has transformed from a policy concern into a full-blown political battleground — one that may well decide the outcome of the upcoming elections.
