Former Minister & ex-Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir has alleged that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s promise of giving 10% quota in jobs and education to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) was a stunt aimed at misleading the people.
“This promise of 10% EWS quota is no different from the promise of giving 12% quota to Muslims and 10% to Scheduled Tribes. CM KCR exploited the sentiments of Muslims and STs for a quite long period and now he is not even talking about them. Similarly, the promise of 10% EWS quota will remain unimplemented and he will forget about it after the polls for two MLC Graduates constituencies and Nagarjuna Sagar by-elections,” Shabbir Ali said in a media statement on Friday.
Shabbir Ali pointed out that CM KCR had promised in April 2014 that he would implement 12% Muslim quota within four months after coming to power. KCR did nothing for three years and finally a faulty Bill was passed in the Legislative Assembly and Council on April 16, 2017. He said instead of implementing the new law, it was sent to the Centre for approval. He said that the Central Government had sent more than three circulars to Telangana Government seeking explanation for enhancement of Muslim quota from 4% to 12% and ST quota from 6% to 10%. However, the State Government did not even respond to those notices. “KCR has become a habitual liar. He can even promise moon and stars if he had to win an election,” he said.
The Congress leader said that the Congress party had promised 5% reservation for Muslims in its election manifesto for 2014 election and the same was implemented in just 58 days after coming to power. He said that the percentage was reduced to 4% on the directions of the High Court and those reservations were being implemented for almost 15 years. He said lakhs of poor Muslims under BC-E benefitted from 4% quota without any legal hurdles. However, he said KCR only cheated the Muslims and also the STs on the promise of enhancing their quota to 12% and 10% respectively.
“KCR is now trying to cheat the economically weaker sections by promising them a 10% quota in jobs and education. If KCR is sincere, then he should implement the decision within a set deadline. Congress party will extend all support to the State Government if it shows seriousness and honesty in implementing 10% reservation for EWS people,” Shabbir Ali said.