Kavitha calls for 'Rail Roko' to demand Centre's nod for 42 pc BC reservation

Hyderabad, July 3 (IANS) Telangana Jagruthi President and BRS MLC K. Kavitha on Thursday announced a 'Rail Roko' protest on July 17 to demand implementation of 42 per cent reservation for backward classes.

She declared that all trains heading to Delhi from Telangana will be stopped to put pressure on the BJP-led government at the Centre to approve the BC Reservation Bill passed by the Telangana legislature.

She demanded that the state government should not conduct local body elections without enhancing the reservation for backward classes.

Kavitha was talking to media persons after unveiling posters for the 'Rail Roko' programme.

She claimed that various parties are supporting the protest. "I am the BRS. The BRS will support rail roko," Kavitha said when asked if her Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) will back ‘Rail roko’.

She demanded that the BJP should take the initiative for the BC Reservation Bill. She wrote a letter to the BJP's new state President Ramchander Rao to take up the issue with the Centre and secure its approval for the BC Reservation Bill.

Kavitha also wrote a letter to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, who was slated to arrive in Hyderabad later in the day.

She claimed that Kharge is coming to Hyderabad to take political advantage ahead of the local body polls, and asked how the Congress can go ahead with the polls without implementing the promise made to BCs.

The BRS MLC said that Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi never spoke for BCs in the Parliament.

She urged Kharge to mount pressure on the BJP for the implementation of 42 per cent reservation for BCs.

She also demanded that the government make public the details of the caste survey conducted across the state. Gram panchayat-wise details of the caste survey should be declared, she said.

Kavitha also accused the Congress of being soft on the Godavari-Banakacherla project proposed by Andhra Pradesh. She referred to the statement of Congress MLA Anirudh Reddy that the Banakacherla project was being taken up for some contracts.

Kavitha said Anirudh Reddy also claimed that there are covert supporters of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in Telangana.

She urged Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to fight strongly to stop the Banakacherla project.

--IANS

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