Governor Jishnu Dev Varma, who gave his assent the quota Bills, forwarded them to President Murmu for final approval.
Published Jul 29, 2025 | 12:42 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 29, 2025 | 6:22 PM
Addressing the media in Hyderabad, K Kavitha said Telangana, like Tamil Nadu, should approach the Supreme Court.
Synopsis: Kavitha said the hunger strike aims to pressure the state government to stress the importance of reservation. She accused the government of playing to keep the BJP safe.
President of the Telangana Jagruthi and BRS MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha will go on a 72-hour hunger strike from 4 August in Hyderabad, demanding 42 percent reservation for backward classes (BCs).
Announcing her decision to undertake the hunger strike on 4, 5, and 6 August, Kavitha said the protest would aim to pressure the state government to stress the importance of reservation.
“We will ask for permission. If we are denied permission, we will sit down to fast wherever possible,” she announced on Tuesday, 29 July.
Notably, the fast coincides with the Telangana Cabinet’s decision to approach President Droupadi Murmu on 5 to 7 August to request her assent on the Reservation Bills.
“The state government has brought in an ordinance to amend the 2018 Panchayat Raj Act after we, Telangana Jagruthi and United Phule Front, said we would go on a rail roko strike,” Kavitha stated.
However, she added that the state must pursue its rights by pushing for a quick assent from the governor or president, alleging that Congress was playing a role in protecting the BJP.
“Our state can immediately approach the Supreme Court in line with Tamil Nadu’s actions. They cannot deep-freeze our Bills, they need to take some action or the other,” she added.
Tamil Nadu had earlier moved the Supreme Court against the governor indefinitely withholding Bills passed by the Assembly. Following the state’s petition, the apex court set deadlines for governors and the president to decide on Bills.
Criticising the Congress’s decision to protest in Delhi, she urged the ruling party to take official action. “The entire Delhi protest is nothing but a drama in the name of the Bihar elections,” Kavitha alleged.
The Telangana Cabinet, on Monday, 28 July, decided to hold a three-day protest in New Delhi from 5 to 7 August, demanding presidential assent for two long-pending Bills that seek to raise BC reservations to 42 percent in education, employment, and local bodies.
The Telangana Assembly passed the two Bills on 22 March 2025. They were sent to Governor Jishnu Dev Varma, who gave his assent on 30 March 2025 and forwarded them to President Murmu for final approval.
The Bills require inclusion in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to be shielded from judicial review.
