Hyderabad, 4 August (H.S.): A special train with Congress workers and leaders from Telangana left for New Delhi on Monday, ahead of a protest led by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on August 6. They are demanding Presidential assent for the Backward Classes reservation bills passed by the state assembly.

Notable attendees include Telangana Congress president B Mahesh Kumar Goud, AICC in-charge of the state Meenakshi Natarajan, and Backward Classes Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, with Goud and Natarajan traveling to Nagpur.Goud accused Union Minister G Kishan Reddy and BJP leaders of obstructing the proposed 42% quota for Backward Classes (BCs) by raising concerns over including Muslims.

In retaliation, BJP claimed Congress is misleading voters by allocating 10% of the quota to Muslims. The Congress planned protests from August 5 to 7, including an adjournment motion in Parliament on August 5 and a dharna at Jantar Mantar on August 6. On August 7, Revanth Reddy and other leaders will seek a meeting with President Droupadi Murmu to submit a memorandum regarding the pending bills, which aim to raise the BC reservation to 42% in education, employment, and local governance.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar