The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Friday moved a private member bill in the Lok Sabha seeking the Centre's approval to the Kapu reservation bill that was sent by the state government.
In December last year, Andhra unanimously passed a legislation to provide five per cent reservation for the Kapu community in government jobs and educational institutions.
Meeting a long-pending demand of Kapus, the government had included the community in the backward classes by creating a separate category 'F'.
The TDP moved the private bill even as it is already at loggerheads with the Centre over the issue of granting Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh.
Reservation in Andhra
Last year, the state cabinet took the decision to grant reservation to the Kapus after discussing the report submitted by the three-member Manjunatha Commission constituted for the purpose.
A new, BC-F category was created for this purpose, where sub-castes Ontari, Telaga and Balija were also added.
According to reports, BCs get 29% reservation under A,B,C,D and E categories, while 15% and 6% reservations exist for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), respectively.
With another 5% being added in the BC-F category, the total reservation in the state will now go up to 55%.
“As 5% of reservation to Kapus makes total reservation exceed 50%, central government nod is compulsory. We will send this bill to the Centre. We will ask them to include this reservation in Schedule 9, so that it will become legitimate,” Naidu had said at the time.
Tamil Nadu is the only state in India which has over 50% reservations in educational institutions, despite a Supreme Court order in 1992.
In 1994, the TN government got the Centre to amend Schedule 9 of the Constitution. Schedule 9 is a list of laws that state governments have brought in, that are exempt from any judicial review - which means that Tamil Nadu’s 69% quota for backward classes cannot be challenged by anyone in any court of law in India.
History
The Kapu community with a significant population in the twin Godavari districts, plays a key role in deciding a party's chances in any election.
Granting them reservation, was one of Naidu's key poll promises, which he made while addressing a massive Praja Garjana rally in West Godavari.
In January 2016, during a Kapu 'Garjana Mahasabha' held in East Godavari district, political leader Mudragada Padmanabham allegedly riled up the crowd, following which the crowd went on a rampage.
Protesters set fire to eight bogies of the Ratnachal Express at Tuni, before they went on to damage a police station, and police and private vehicles.
Following the incident at Tuni, the TDP government constituted the Manjunatha Commission to look into the reservation issue.
With the latest move, it seems that the TDP government has portrayed to the people, that the ball is in the Centre's court.