Hyderabad, Feb 13 Telangana Backward Classes Welfare and Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar on Thursday asked the leaders of the main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to prove their sincerity by participating in the caste survey.
He told media persons in Karimnagar that since some people did not share their details during the survey conducted in November-December 2024, the government has decided to give them an opportunity from February 16 to February 28.
The minister said this was not a re-survey as BRS leaders claimed. He said the BRS leaders, who did not participate in the survey, were making baseless allegations.
"If top BRS leaders have faith in democracy, they should prove this by participating in the survey," he said.
Branding BJP as a party of businessmen, he alleged that the party does not want caste census, BC reservation, and sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes. He said BJP leaders were criticising BCs and Muslims for political mileage.
Ponnam Prabhakar said reservations would be provided in Telangana in tune with the people's aspirations. He mentioned that the poor among the Muslim community are part of BCs.
On local body polls, he said the elections would be conducted after completion of the survey. A special session of the Legislature would be convened to provide 42 per cent reservation to BCs in local bodies. He told the opposition parties that if they are sincere about the welfare of BCs, they should not stall the passage of the Bill.
The state government on Wednesday decided to conduct another round of caste survey from next week to cover people who could not participate in the survey earlier.
Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka announced that people who could not participate in the survey for various reasons may share their details with the enumerators. He urged the remaining 3.1 per cent population to avail the opportunity.
The government's decision to conduct another round of caste surveys comes after criticism from the opposition parties, which raised doubts about the statistics announced in the State Assembly on February 4.
They questioned the decline in the population of BCs from 61 per cent (including Muslim BCs) as revealed in the integrated household survey conducted in 2014 to 56.33 per cent in the caste survey conducted in November-December 2024.
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