Panchayat polls: Caste census becomes sticky wicket for Congress

Hyderabad : The ruling Congress leadership is caught in a sticky situation, as there is growing demand for holding the polls for local bodies (Panchayat) in Telangana after conducting ‘Caste Census’, one of the key poll promises.

The BC leaders from within the party and outside are urging the government to initiate the caste census after MCC is lifted. The speculation is that the government is all set to postpone the polls, which were earlier thought to be completed by June. But the key leaders feel that the issue of the caste census, which is laced with technical and legal issues, will not be a cake walk.

According to party sources, with the other priorities like the implementation of the ‘loan waiver’, one of the prestige issues of the Chief Minister, A Revanth Reddy, is also that the government may further push the dates and may conduct polls after August 15. Even as the Panchayat Raj Act provides 22 per cent reservation to backward castes, BC leaders are demanding the government conduct a caste census and extend the reservation to 42 per cent in local bodies. The present reservation norms do not support more than 50 per cent of the quota for OBCs. “There has been a discussion on this topic within the rank and file of the party for the past few days. We have also urged the CM and top Congress leadership to push for this and take up panchayat elections only after taking up the caste census,” told a senior BC leader to The Hans India.

It has been almost four months since the tenure of elected representatives to local bodies was completed but remains pending owing to the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. Due to the completion of the tenure, officials are taking care of the entire administration of the local bodies, and with no public representatives dealing with the issues at the panchayat level, several issues remain pending. Earlier, it was thought that if the elections were completed by June, the government could focus on welfare activities and the implementation of different schemes.

However, while acknowledging that if this process is completed, it would work in favour of the Congress, some top party leaders opined that this was a herculean task. They said that it is a complex issue that needs the Governor’s nod, for which approval has already been sought by the State government. Moreover, there are still technical and legal issues that have to be resolved, which could be a long drawn process.

PCC working president, T Jagga Reddy, explained to The Hans India, “This issue is laced with complexities, as the limitations that were brought in ten years ago have to be amended. There is also the possibility of the issue landing in court, and this may lead to a long-drawn process.”