The Telangana BJP has promised 10 per cent reservation for tribals in education, jobs, and local body elections if voted to power in the state. Union minister of tourism and state BJP president G Kishan Reddy announced this while he was on a visit to Medaram in Mulugu district to offer prayers to the tribal deities of Sammakka and Sarakka, on Wednesday.
The BJP has been trying to woo the tribal community in this assembly election. In 2018, most of the MLA seats in tribal areas had gone to the Congress. Last week, during a visit to Telangana Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the establishment of a central tribal university in the state named after Samakka and Sarakka at the cost of Rs 900 crores, as promised, and blamed the BRS government for the delay in allotting land.
Reddy said the BJP was committed to the welfare of tribals. “When the BJP comes to power after the election, we will take up 10 per cent reservation for tribals in education, employment opportunities, and local body elections,” He said.
The demand for 10 per cent reservation for the scheduled tribes has been a longstanding one. All the three key parties in Telangana – the BJP, BRS and the Congress – are promising 10 per cent reservations for tribals to corner the tribal vote in the upcoming state election.
The chief minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao, had promised the same thing to the tribal community last year saying that they would not wait for the Centre’s approval. The Congress too has supported the call for 10 per cent reservation for the ST community. There are 12 assembly seats and two MP seats reserved for ST candidates in the state.
G Kishan Reddy added that the Union government would establish a tribal memorial museum in Hyderabad at the cost of Rs 25 crore, while the tribal research centre set up for Rs 6.5 crore will be inaugurated soon.