BRS leader Kavitha announces 'rail roko' on July 17 seeking 42% OBC quota in local body polls

New Delhi: Senior BRS leader K Kavitha on Tuesday announced a ‘rail roko’ (block trains) protest in Telangana on July 17 demanding immediate implementation of 42 per cent OBC reservation in the state, including in the upcoming local body elections, accusing the Congress government in the state and the BJP at the Centre of “deceiving” the backward communities.

Addressing a press conference here, she accused Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi of tom-tomming the “flawed” Telangana model Caste Census while urging him to instruct Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to not wait for the President’s assent for OBC Bills when a government order is sufficient for implementing quota in local body polls.

Announcing the agitation programme under the banner of her organisation ‘Telangana Jagruthi’, Kavitha warned that the Congress and the BJP would have to implement the quota for the OBCs if they want to win elections anywhere in the country in the future. She claimed only regional parties like BRS, Samajwadi Party, RJD and DMK are committed to the welfare of the OBCs.

Recalling that the Bills providing 42 per cent quota for OBCs in local bodies, education and employment passed by Telangana Assembly are pending with the President, she urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that it is given assent at the earliest and place it in Schedule 9 of the Constitution to protect it from judicial review.

“We are announcing a ‘rail roko’ on July 17. I am a daughter of Telangana. We have emerged from ‘andolan’ (struggle) and we know how to do it. Not a single train coach will reach Delhi from Deccan. If the bill isn’t approved, 2.5 crore backward youth in Telangana will teach BJP a lesson. The July 17 protest is just a trailer. If needed, we will carry out an indefinite rail roko,” she said.

At the same time, she also said the Congress government does not need the President’s assent to implement OBC quota in local bodies, as it can issue a government order. She claimed that the state government is not doing so arguing that it can attract court cases and the order could be scrapped while suggesting that parties could give tickets to 42 per cent OBCs.

“Rahul Gandhi, who roams the country holding the Constitution, should ask Revanth Reddy to issue the GO. Both the Congress and BJP are deceiving the OBCs. Opposition to OBCs is ingrained in BJP’s DNA,” she said. The Congress just passed the Bill and sent it to the President just to “wash their hands off the matter”, she claimed.

She alleged that Rahul Gandhi "suddenly showed" concern for backwards only after Congress lost power in 2014. She mocked the Chief Minister for “completing a half-century” in his visits to Delhi.

Recalling the BJP’s poll promise of a backward class Chief Minister, she alleged that it has not even supported 42 per cent BC reservation in local body elections. “Despite having eight BJP MPs from Telangana, they haven’t spoken a word about it. This is shameful,” she said.