Senior Congress leader Ponnala Lakshmaiah, who recently joined the BRS, expressed his doubt in the Congress party’s credibility when it comes to representing BCs. He mentioned that the party had deceived BCs in the past by mishandling ticket allotment. Lakshmaiah spoke at a press conference held at Telangana Bhavan, alongside D Sravan Kumar, E Shekhar, and N Sridhar.
Lakshmaiah reminded everyone of Rahul Gandhi’s promise to prioritize BCs and increase reservation based on their population. However, he highlighted an incident where V Hanumanth Rao requested three seats for BCs, but his seat was given to Rohin Reddy from Khairatabad.
The Congress leadership has been accused of favoring Reddys over BC leaders by denying tickets to prominent figures such as working president Anjan Kumar Yadav, DCC presidents Nandikanti Sridhar and Erra Shekhar, former MLA Anil, and many other BC leaders. Lakshmaiah questioned how these leaders, who sold BC tickets, could be trusted to do justice to the community.
Lakshmaiah further emphasized his doubts by asking how the Congress party could fight for reservations when it couldn’t even provide BCs with tickets. He pointed out that only 20 BCs were given tickets compared to 40 Reddys. He questioned whether this was truly an example of social justice.
The Congress had promised to release a BC declaration and hold a BC Garjana meeting in Shadnagar, but these events never took place. Lakshmaiah also criticized the party for disrespecting Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and failing to fulfill the Udaipur Declaration. He mentioned that while the party had initially stated that only one ticket would be given per family, new members were given two tickets per family. He also accused the Congress of selling tickets like parachutes, with 40 tickets allegedly being sold.
In Lakshmaiah’s opinion, the Congress party has become similar to the Telugu Desam party, as many members from Chandrababu and Revanth batches have joined the Congress.
