Muslim quota bill to be passed in ongoing Budget session: Rao

A bill aimed at providing reservation to backward sections among Muslims would be passed in the ongoing Budget session of Telangana Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said here today.
"The bill would be passed in the Budget session, which would conclude this month end, after which the government would urge the Centre to take steps for its implementation as happened in the case of Tamil Nadu," Rao said in the Legislative Assembly.
Rao, who did not announce the details of the proposed bill, said the state government would urge the Centre to include it in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution (as in the case of Tamil Nadu).

This inclusion is required in view of the 50 per cent cap on the percentage of reservations.
The bill would be made in the light of reports of commissions, appointed by the state government on Muslims, backward classes and others, Rao said.
The TRS government's proposal had evoked a sharp response from the BJP, which took exception to provision of reservation on communal basis.

The state government, however, had clarified that the reservation is proposed not on the basis of religion, but for the upliftment of backward sections among Muslims.
Rao was speaking on the Motion on Address by the Governor.

He hit out at Congress, BJP and other Opposition parties, who staged a walkout in the House earlier in the day in protest against the suspension of two TDP members for allegedly interrupting the Governor's address to the joint sitting of the legislature yesterday.
The CM said he would quit "in five minutes" if any exaggerations or untruths were found in the Governor's address.
Charging that the Opposition parties were making 'baseless allegations' against the TRS government and also stalling development, he said the government would take steps, including legal, to take tough action against those who will fail to prove their allegations.

In his comprehensive reply, he spoke on a number of schemes and initiatives of the government, including the resolve to provide one lakh government jobs by 2019.