Published Aug 18, 2025 | 6:30 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 18, 2025 | 6:30 PM
Telangana CM Revanth with TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud. (X)
Synopsis: The Telangana Congress PAC will meet on August 23 to finalize its strategy for implementing 42% BC reservations amid legal and political hurdles. With the Centre stalling bill clearance and the Governor delaying ordinance assent, the party faces pressure before local polls. TPCC chief Mahesh Goud insists on statutory quotas, while BC groups remain sceptical of all parties’ intentions.
The Telangana Congress Political Affairs Committee (PAC) is scheduled to meet on 23 August to finalise the party’s strategy for implementing 42 percent reservations for Backward Classes (BCs).
The party is under pressure to decide its course of action and gear up for the local body elections, which must be held by the end of September as per the Telangana High Court’s directive.
With time running out, the Congress is scrambling to address the issue in the backdrop of the Centre refusing to clear the BC quota bills pending before it. These bills seek enhancement of reservations to 42 percent in local bodies, along with a similar quota in education and employment for BCs.
Adding to the complexity, the Telangana Governor is yet to give assent to an ordinance sent by the state government seeking deletion of a section in the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act that restricts BC reservations in local body polls to 23 percent. The government’s hope was that once this section was removed, it could fix the quota at any desired level—specifically 42 percent in this case. However, its efforts have hit a roadblock with the Governor keeping the ordinance on backburner.
Meanwhile, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President B Mahesh Kumar Goud is understood to be insisting that the government should conduct the local body elections only after making the 42 percent reservation for BCs mandatory. He is of the opinion that the government must not look for alternatives but should stick to its original plan of ensuring statutory reservations.
Mahesh Kumar is understood to be strongly batting for statutory 42 percent reservations and has reportedly urged the Chief Minister to continue pressuring the Centre for the bill’s clearance.
He is also said to have advised the government to seek more time from the High Court so that elections could be conducted only after the quota is legally mandated. According to party sources, the TPCC President believes this is the right moment for the Congress to demonstrate its commitment to the Kamareddy Declaration. If the party opts for alternatives such as allotting 42 percent tickets to BCs, he fears it will be perceived as a dilution of its promise.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, however, has indicated that if all avenues are blocked, the government may be forced to either proceed with the existing 23 percent quota or, as an alternative, allot 42 percent of Congress party tickets to BCs, though it might invite sharp criticism from the BCs and also from other political parties.
However, BC organisations remain sceptical of the intentions of political parties. They argue that much of the posturing over the 42 percent quota is aimed more at serving party interests than genuinely empowering the BCs.
“Why shouldn’t the BJP clear the bills already sent to the Centre? It appears the saffron party does not want the credit to go to Congress. That is why it is putting forward illogical excuses, such as linking the matter to a proposed nationwide caste census,” BC Rajyadhikara Samiti founding president Dasu Suresh said.
The Telangana BJP, meanwhile, maintains that unless the Congress removes the 10 percent reservation for Muslims and allocates the entire 42 percent exclusively to BCs, the bills will not be cleared.
He says that as for the BRS, it has chosen to sit on the fence. While publicly declaring support for the 42 percent quota, it accuses both Congress and BJP of lacking sincerity.
(Edited by Sumavarsha)
