Telangana: Congress Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy says they will not implement CAA in the State

Telangana Irrigation and Civil Supplies and Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Congress Government in state would not implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) or the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Telangana.

The former president of State Congress and senior leader was speaking at an Iftar party at Kodad in Nalgonda district on Tuesday.

He went on to say that Congress party is genuinely secular and need to make Rahul Gandhi as PM.

T Jeevan Reddy, a Congress MLA, recently stated at a public meeting that everybody who has come to India or will come in the future has the right to be here.

As the Lok Sabha Elections are scheduled, Congress party is trying to reach out to Muslims in the state, who make up around 13 per cent of the state’s population, with the potential to impact the decision in at least ten Lok Sabha seats.

In the Telangana Assembly elections of 2023, no Muslim was elected to the Assembly on a Congress or BRS ticket, with only AIMIM retaining its seven seats.  However, the state Congress selected veteran politician Mohammed Ali Shabbir as an advisor to the state government on SC, ST, OBC, and minority affairs.

Since then, the Congress party has tried to attract Muslim voters. One of such gestures was the appointment of AIMIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi as pro-term speaker of the Telangana Assembly.

On March 15, CM Revant Reddy hosted an Iftar Party attended by AIMIM leader and Hyderabad MP Owaisi.

During Telangana Assembly elections in 2023, a  coalition of Muslim and left-wing leaders formed the ‘Telangana Muslim Organisations Joint Action Committee’ and issued the Muslim Declaration, which included 22 criteria that any political party wanting Muslim support should meet. Telangana chapter of Jamat-e-Islami Hind also gave its support for the Congress in 67 seats, 42 BRS seats, 1 CPI seat, 1 BSP seat, and 7 AIMIM seats in the 119 constituencies.