Following the new GO, the BC quota fell sharply to 17 percent. Some districts recorded extremely low or zero BC representation in certain mandals, including parts of Bhadradri Kothagudem and Adilabad.
Published Nov 29, 2025 | 8:00 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 29, 2025 | 8:00 AM
Rajya Sabha MP R Krishnaiah, widely regarded as the most prominent BC movement leader in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, has emerged as the face of the agitation. (Facebook)
Synopsis: The Telangana government’s decision to issue Government Order 46, which caps reservations in Gram Panchayat elections at 50 percent, has sparked a fresh wave of anger from the state’s Backward Class communities. The GO, which has reduced the BC quota to 17 percent, has prompted BC leaders and organisations, including R Krishnaiah, to accuse the Congress government of reneging on its promise of 42 percent reservation and to demand its immediate withdrawal.
A fresh wave of anger is sweeping across Telangana’s Backward Class (BC) communities after the state government issued Government Order (GO) 46 on 22 November, capping total reservations in the upcoming Gram Panchayat elections at 50 percent.
GO 46 replaces GO 9, the order issued earlier this year that provided 42 percent reservations for BCs in rural local bodies, in line with the Congress government’s promise to honour a demand that has shaped BC politics for over four decades and gained new momentum during the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections.
However, GO 9 was stayed by the Telangana High Court on the ground that the total quota breached the Supreme Court mandated 50 percent cap for local-body reservations and that the state had not placed before the court the full dataset of its caste survey and the Commission report used to justify the 42 percent figure.
Following the new GO, the BC quota fell sharply to 17 percent. Some districts recorded extremely low or zero BC representation in certain mandals, including parts of Bhadradri Kothagudem and Adilabad.
This has triggered a major backlash from BC organisations, who argue that using the district as the unit for reservation rotation rather than the mandal has severely disadvantaged them and accuse the government of “betrayal”.
Rajya Sabha MP R Krishnaiah, widely regarded as the most prominent BC movement leader in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, has emerged as the face of the agitation.
Although elected to the Upper House of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket in 2024, Krishnaiah has repeatedly asserted that he is “not a politician” but a lifelong BC activist.
He alleged that the present dispensation has “betrayed the BCs” by promising 42 percent and delivering 17 percent.
“This is a conspiracy to prevent political power from reaching the BCs. The government showcased 42 percent to make it look attractive and finally delivered just 17 percent. In some districts, BCs have not received a single panchayat sarpanch seat. How is this justice?” he asked, speaking to South First.
He has demanded:
Krishnaiah has also warned ministers and MLAs that they would face stiff resistance in villages if the government does not correct what he calls a “grave injustice”.
He announced a calibrated agitation plan that includes hunger strikes, highway blockades, village-level protests and legal intervention.
Furthermore, the BC leader plans to file petitions in the High Court to challenge both GO 9 and GO 46 on procedural grounds, including the non-publication of the Commission’s empirical data regarding BC population and representation.
Another senior BC leader, Dasu Suresh, founder-president of the BC Rajyadhikara Samiti, said the state government rushed into elections without creating a sustainable legal framework for its promised 42 percent BC reservations.
“There is no point in BCs in political parties trading charges against one another. We have to build a powerful agitation. We are not against other castes. In fact, we welcome those castes, including upper castes who understand the genuineness of our demand, to join hands with us,” he told South First.
“BCs deserve more than 42 percent reservation. We will fight for the inclusion of the Bills sent to the Centre in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. What is needed is political will to have the Bills included in the Ninth Schedule. There is no point in issuing GOs that do not stand legal scrutiny. It is like treating a wound at one place when the injury is elsewhere in the body.”
He pointed out that a constitutional amendment including the state’s reservation law in the Ninth Schedule, as done for Tamil Nadu, would protect the increased quota from judicial scrutiny. He noted that the EWS quota and several states’ higher-than-50 percent reservation systems have survived because they were supported by constitutional amendments.
“We will fight for justice for the BCs in Delhi. We will coordinate with all political parties at the national level and make granting 42 percent reservation to BCs a political necessity for them. We will have a clear agenda. It is the responsibility of the Telangana government to ensure justice to the BCs because it was the party that had promised it. Its action plan should be in line with the promises it had made,” he said.
“The state government should lead an all-party delegation to the Centre. It should introduce a private member’s Bill in Parliament seeking inclusion of 42 percent reservations in the Ninth Schedule. We will teach the government a fitting lesson.”
Suresh argued that unless the Centre agrees to a similar constitutional amendment for Telangana, any executive order granting 42 percent reservations will be struck down. He also alleged flaws in the way reservations were calculated.
“If the rule of reservation had been applied correctly, the BC quota would not have fallen to 17 percent,” he added.
The agitation for proportional representation dates back to the 1980s, gaining momentum under the leadership of R Krishnaiah, K Ramulu, V Hanumantha Rao and other BC leaders.
The demand is based on:
During the 2023 Assembly elections, the Congress promised 42 percent BC reservation in local bodies, a central campaign plank in districts with high BC populations such as Karimnagar, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar and Medak.
With the High Court now examining petitions relating to GO 46, and with Gram Panchayat elections scheduled in December, the reservation dispute has become a high-stakes political battle. The Telangana government has maintained that it is complying with legal limits and will present its arguments before the High Court.
For the BC movement, however, this is not merely an electoral issue but a decades-long struggle for political representation, one that has returned to the centre of Telangana’s politics with renewed force.
(Edited by dese Gowda)
