Telangana Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA KT Rama Rao has said the 4 per cent Muslim reservation in the state is not on the basis of religion but on the basis of socio-economic status in the community.
Rao said this while reacting to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's "promise" that the BJP government would end Muslim reservations in the state after coming into power in Telangana.
"4% Muslim reservation is not on the basis of religion. That is on the basis of socio-economic status. Amit Shah should think before speaking. Secondly, we know what the BJP does and what it is attempting to do. It is trying to polarise...But they will fail this time," Mr Rao told ANI while reacting to Shah's statement on Friday.
Earlier, while participating in the BJP's roadshow along with the party's candidate Thokala Srinivas Reddy in Rajendra Nagar Assembly Constituency in Telangana, Mr Shah said," We have made a lot of promises. One of them is that the CM will be made from the backward class. We will end the Muslim reservation & give reservations to SC, ST & OBC. We have also promised vertical reservation to the Madiga community."
When asked about Congress leader Jairam Ramesh's remark on the per capita income of the state, KTR said, "He should read the socio-economic survey. If we look at Telangana today, there are 33 districts. All of these districts have per capita more than the national average. So, he should read it once again."
Telangana is set to undergo assembly elections on November 30, and the ruling BRS, Congress and BJP are the main contestants in the state. The counting of votes will take place on December 3.
In the previous Assembly election in the state in 2018, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), previously known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), won 88 of the 119 seats, hogging 47.4 per cent of the total vote share. The Congress came in a distant second with just 19 seats.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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