Parties told to field BC candidates for Dubbak by-poll

Decision taken at a meeting of 14 BC associations

Over a dozen Backward Class associations in Telangana have decided to field a candidate from the BC communities for the forthcoming by-election to Dubbak Assembly constituency in Siddipet district, in case the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi and opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party fail to give ticket to BC candidates.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the 14 BC associations and was attended by R. Krishnaiah, president of National BC Welfare Association, and leaders of other bodies – N. Venkatesh, A. Ramkoti Mudiraj, A. Pandu Mudiraj, A. Venu Kumar Netha, G. Mallesh Yadav, R. Chandrasekhar Goud, C. Rajender Mudiraj, T.R. Chander, G. Anji, B. Krishna Yadav, P. Venugopal Yadav, B.R. Krishna Mudiraj, Madhusudan Goud and others.

They have decided to make the Dubbak by-poll a laboratory to take the slogan of self-respect of BC communities to people.

Speaking at the meeting, the BC leaders alleged that all political parties had been them for the last 74 years by denying their due share in electoral politics but people are not ready to tolerate it any more.

According to the Samagra Kutumba Survey conducted by the State Government in 2014, the composition of BC communities in the State population is 52% but the percentage of BC legislators in the Assembly had never crossed 15%.

Further, they pointed out that there were no BC legislators from 24 out of the 33 districts in the State and the allocation of budget for the welfare and development of BC communities is not in proportion of their population.

Reservation for BC communities in rural local bodies was reduced to 22% from the previous 34% by the State government.

On Dubbak constituency, they said 64% of the population are from the BC communities and another 16% from SC communities, and including ST communities, it would go up to 94%. However, no major political party fielded a BC candidate from the constituency during the last 40 years. The BC associations would take the injustice being done to them by the parties to every household as their development is possible only with share in political power and not with subsidies, they said.