Telangana will pass two legislations during the ongoing Budget session to enhance reservation for the Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Muslims, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said on Saturday.
Addressing the state Assembly, KCR, as the CM is more commonly known as, said that the two bills would be tabled and passed during the ongoing session.
He said he would then lead an all-party delegation to New Delhi to urge the Centre to include the legislations in the Constitution's 9th Schedule as was done in the case of Tamil Nadu.
Rao assured the house that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government will fulfill its commitment to enhance quota to Muslims and STs to 12% each.
Muslims, who constitute 12.68% of Telangana's 3.52 crore population, currently enjoy 4% quota in education and jobs.
The STs, who are 9.34% of the population, are availing 6% reservation.
Enhancing the quota for Muslims and STs will take total reservation in the state to over 50%, the upper limit prescribed by the Supreme Court, thus requiring a constitutional amendment.
Laws under the 9th Schedule cannot be challenged in a court of law.
The CM had earlier said that if the central government refuses to include the laws in the 9th Schedule, the state would fight a legal battle.
Clarifying that the quota will not be on the basis on religion but will be based only on socio-economic backwardness, Rao had earlier stated that he was an optimist.
In January this year, he told the state Assembly that the Telangana legislation will be on the lines of a legislation formulated by Tamil Nadu in 1994, which took the overall quota in that state to 69% and the same was included in 9th Schedule of the Constitution.
"When Tamil Nadu can do it, why not Telangana. We will be providing quota in our state. We need this because the social composition of Telangana is such that weaker sections constitute 85% of the population," he said.
The Budget session, which began on Friday, will continue till March 27.
(With IANS inputs)