Minister of State for Home Affairs, and senior BJP leader Bandi Sanjay Kumar has issued a stern warning to the Congress-led Telangana government, accusing it of subverting constitutional principles and Supreme Court guidelines by including Muslims within the newly approved 42% reservation quota for Backward Classes (BCs) in local body elections.
Speaking to media persons during a cycle distribution programme at his Rajanna Sircilla constituency on July 15, Bandi Sanjay alleged a “well-orchestrated conspiracy” to suppress the truth and mislead the public, accusing the Congress of betraying genuine BC communities to curry favour with a specific religious group.
“Giving 10% of the 42% BC quota to Muslims is unconstitutional and a betrayal of genuine BC communities. The BJP will not allow this backdoor communal reservation. If necessary, we will launch a massive agitation both inside and outside the Assembly,” Sanjay declared.
He also criticised some BC organisations for maintaining silence, accusing them of being compromised by political loyalty to the ruling party. “When Muslims were added to the BC list earlier, there was no protest. And during previous GHMC elections, BC Hindus lost out heavily — the same mistake is now being repeated,” he warned.
Taking on the Congress government’s logic, Sanjay questioned, “Will you implement 100% reservation for Muslims, who form just 12% of Telangana’s population? But for BCs, who constitute 51%, you are giving only 32% — how is that justified?” He pointed out that even under the new 42% quota proposal, BCs will effectively receive only 5% more than earlier.
Bandi Sanjay further said that religion-based quotas violate constitutional norms and called upon Hindus to introspect. “This is not about upliftment — it’s about appeasement. Congress and BRS are trying to manufacture a Muslim vote bank by robbing BC Hindus of their due share.”
Congress Approves Quota Ordinance, Sidesteps Assembly
The Telangana Cabinet, led by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, approved the 42% reservation for BCs on July 10, and is now preparing to enforce it through an ordinance.
According to the government, the enhanced quota is based on empirical caste survey data and the recommendations of the BC Commission chaired by Busani Venkateshwara Rao.
Minister Ponnam Prabhakar defended the move, citing the Centre’s EWS quota and Tamil Nadu’s 60%+ reservation policy.
The Telangana High Court, in an order dated June 25, had directed the state government to complete the reservation process for local bodies within a month,
The government argues that BCs form 56% of Telangana’s population and hence deserve 42% reservation in local bodies. However, critics point out that the inclusion of Muslims in the BC category artificially inflates the representation of one community while diluting the share meant for Hindu BCs.
The reservation structure in local body elections likely to treat Gram Panchayats, Sarpanchs, and MPTCs as mandal-level units, MPPs and ZPTCs at the district level, and ZP chairpersons at the state level for implementing the quota.
