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Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai on Tuesday defended his party's poll promise in Telangana of doing away with the 4 per cent reservation for the Muslim community, saying that the decision was in congruence with the Constitution.
"The BJP's manifesto promise during the campaigning in Telangana is in sync with the Constitution of India," Annamalai told ANI here. "With respect to the religion-based reservation, you all know BR Ambedkar (the father of our constitution) was against it. You can't keep appeasing the rich section of a community who are the continuous beneficiaries of the reservation. The 4 per cent reservation is going to be distributed in the communities that really need it. If Asaduddin Owaisi is unhappy, it is up to him, because the people of Telangana want aspirational politics in sync with the new India," he added. Annamalai also batted for the Uniform Civil Code, another poll promise of the BJP in Telangana. "The Uniform Civil Code is the need of the hour. It was one of the aims of framing the Constitution...The Supreme Court also, at various points, asked the government to take a firm step, which the BJP is doing now," Annamalai said. It was Union Home Minister Amit Shah who announced in a campaign rally in the state that if the BJP comes to power in Telangana, it will end the four per cent reservation for the Muslim community and will distribute the quota among the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes. "We will do away with the four per cent reservation for Muslims and we will give those to SCs. OBCs and STs," Amit Shah said while campaigning at Telangana's Jagtial on Monday. Shah also announced reservations for the Madiga community in Telangana under the SC category. "We have decided that the Madiga community will get a vertical quota in reservations under the SC category," he said. Telangana will go for Assembly elections on November 30 and the counting of votes, along with those of four other poll-bound states, has been scheduled for December 3. In the previous Assembly election in 2018, the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), previously known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), won 88 of the 119 seats, grabbing 47.4 per cent of the total vote share. The Congress came in a distant second with just 19 seats. (ANI)
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