Assuring that an ordinance will be brought in if required, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday said that Telangana will be the first state to implement the sub-classification of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in reservation after the Supreme Court passed an order to that effect. The demand for sub-classification within reservation has been a long-standing issue for the Madiga, a numerically superior sub-caste within the Scheduled Castes in the two Telugu states. They had been agitating for the past three decades for equitable representation and reservation within the SC quota.

In unified Andhra Pradesh, it was TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu who first introduced sub-classification in the reservation for SCs, but it was struck down by the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 2004 in the case of EV Chinnaiah vs State of Andhra Pradesh. This judgment was overturned by the apex court on Thursday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had held a separate rally to woo the Madigas last year before the Assembly election in Telangana, had also promised to expedite the matter which was in the Supreme Court. An emotional Mandakrishna Madiga, who spearheaded the movement, was earnestly comforted by the Prime Minister as the Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS) had pledged support to the BJP in elections.

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, speaking in the Assembly, thanked the apex court and said, “On behalf of the state government, I am announcing that Telangana will be the first state to implement the sub-classification.” He promised that the state government would take appropriate steps to implement the sub-classification in the upcoming job notifications. “If required, an ordinance will be brought in,” said the Chief Minister. He added that his government had engaged senior Supreme Court lawyer Sidharth Luthra to argue in favour of categorisation. The government had also sent Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and State Health Minister Damodar Rajnarasimha to New Delhi to provide necessary information and other support to the legal team.

The BRS also welcomed the Supreme Court’s verdict with its working president KT Rama Rao acknowledging that the persistent struggle by the Madiga community has borne fruit. He called on the Congress government to immediately initiate the steps to implement the classification.

MRPS president Mandakrishna Madiga, who spearheaded the 30-year-long struggle to secure justice for his community, recalled Naidu’s contribution to their cause. Hailing the judgment, Mandakrishna said: “Dharma has won” while dedicating the victory to the children of the MRPS members who lost their lives during the struggle. “MRPS has been fighting for this sub-classification for the past 30 years. We eagerly awaited this moment while agitating against the injustice meted out to the community. Several people lost their lives during the movement,” he recalled. He said he was confident that Revanth Reddy in Telangana and Naidu in Andhra Pradesh would restore sub-classification within the SC reservation.