Telangana Assembly passes bill to hike reservation quota for backward Muslims

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], April 16 (ANI): The Telangana Assembly today unanimously passed a bill to hike the reservation quota for backward Muslims and the Scheduled Tribes (ST) to twelve and ten percent respectively. Excluding the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which ardently opposed the bill both inside and outside the assembly, the entire Opposition supported the Backward Class, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Reservation Bill, 2017, which will be now debated and passed by the state legislative council. Earlier in the day, five BJP MLAs were suspended from the Telangana Assembly for creating ruckus over a bill aimed at increasing separate quota for the Muslims in government jobs. The members included BJP floor leader G. Kishan Reddy and K. Laxman, Raja Singh, NVSS Prabhakar and Chintala Ramachandra Reddy. The MLAs were seen protesting in the well of the house despite repeated requests by Assembly Speaker to refrain from doing so. The Telangana Assembly earlier today convened a special session to consider the bill seeking to provide 12 percent reservation for Muslims in educational institutions and government jobs. Earlier in March, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had said that the state assembly would pass two legislations during the ongoing Budget Session to enhance reservation for the Scheduled Tribes and Muslims. Rao asserted that two bills would be tabled and passed during the ongoing session, adding that he would then lead an all-party delegation to New Delhi to urge the Centre to include the legislations in the Constitution's 9th Schedule as was done in the case of Tamil Nadu. Rao assured the house that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Government would fulfil their commitment to enhance quota to Muslims and STs to 12 percent each. (ANI)