Playing the caste card, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that if voted to power then BJP will abolish reservation for Muslims and instead increase reservation for OBCs and STs. Shah also promised that a BJP government in the state will also make arrangements for the people to visit Ram Mandir in Ayodhya free of cost.

Shah on Saturday held three public rallies before attending the meet of Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS) for further clarity in the issue of sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes. Addressing rallies in Gadwal, Nalgonda and Warangal (East) assembly constituencies, he slammed Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and said: “KCR gave Muslim reservation on the basis of religion which is against the Constitution. If you elect a BJP government, we will increase reservation for the OBCs and SC/STs in place of reservation on basis of religion.” Telangana has currently 4 per cent reservation for backward Muslims and BJP has trained its guns on this and proposes to abolish it in favour of OBC and SC/ST reservation.

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The Union Minister also pointed out that while BCs form 52 per cent of the population in the state, including 135 castes, the Congress and BRS are not ready to make a BC leader the chief minister. However, he assured BJP will elect a BC leader as its chief minister if voted to  power. He blamed Vijayshanti, G Vivekananda and K Rajgopal Reddy for leaving BJP for Congress after it was decided that a BC leader will be the next chief minister.

“Both BRS and Congress were unfair to the BCs when it came to ticket distribution but BJP gave most tickets to BC candidates. In the state’s Budget, KCR had allocated Rs 3300 crore but only 77 crore were utilised. At the Centre, Modiji has 27 BC ministers in his Cabinet. BJP also made Modiji the first BC Prime Minister. Only BJP takes care of the BCs while KCR has been most unfair to them,” he said.

Shah also slammed the Congress, BRS and AIMIM for practising family-oriented politics. “Congress, TRS and MIM are 2G, 3G and 4G parties. Two G means KCR and KTR, Owaisi‘s party is 3G, there are three generations of family members. Congress is 4G – Jawaharlal Nehru followed by Indira Gandhi then Rajiv Gandhi and now Rahul Gandhi. Free Telangana from these parties and vote for the party which sent Tiranga to the moon,” he said.

Dubbing the BRS as Bhrastachar (Corruption) Rishwatkhor (bribe) Samithi, he urged the voters to set up a BJP government. “You have to decide whether you want development by a double engine government under the leadership of Modiji or the lies of KCR,” he said and added: “If you elect a BJP government, it will make arrangements for you to visit Ram Mandir in batches free of cost.”