There is a widespread discussion in political circles over whether everything the TDP and the Andhra Pradesh government are doing regarding BC reservations is merely political drama. The reason is that key TDP leaders are saying that local body elections will definitely be held this month and that there is no need for any doubt about it. Highly reliable sources have revealed that the schedule and notification for the local body elections are likely to be issued on October 8. As decided earlier, it is being said that municipal elections will be held first, followed by Zilla Parishad and Mandal Parishad elections. On Thursday, the Andhra Pradesh High Court delivered its judgment striking down the GOs issued by the coalition government to provide 34 per cent reservations for BCs. The court ruled that the reservations were invalid as they exceeded the 50 per cent ceiling, in accordance with an earlier Supreme Court judgment. As soon as the verdict was delivered, TDP leaders announced that the government would immediately appeal the matter in the Supreme Court and that there would be no question of backing down on BC reservations. Similar statements were made by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu as well as other leaders of the party.
Even though the government is creating a sense of urgency over the matter, many leaders believe that the Supreme Court may reject the government’s appeal on BC reservations at the preliminary stage itself. This is because the Supreme Court would not have an opportunity to review its own judgment again. However, there is also a discussion that this is nothing more than an attempt to claim that they fought very strongly for BC reservations but could not succeed, and that there is no other motive behind it. One leader opined that it appears this strategy has been planned to completely bring back to their side those who were once a strong vote bank of the TDP, even if Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan moves away from the coalition for any reason in the future. TDP national working president and minister Nara Lokesh had announced that irrespective of whether the Bill is passed in Parliament or not, they would implement 33 per cent reservation for women in both Assembly and Lok Sabha seats in the 2029 elections. The NDA government at the Centre is trying to get the Women’s Reservation Bill approved somehow by the time of the elections.
There was already a discussion among TDP leaders at the time that Nara Lokesh had made this announcement knowing this. Now, after the BC reservations case has also been struck down in the Supreme Court, many leaders are saying that the party may allocate seats to BCs according to the proposed reservation calculations at the party level. There would be no one to question how many seats the party allocates to whom at the party level. Questions are now being raised as to whether Chandrababu, who is politically one of the most senior leaders in the country, does not know that this case will not move forward in the Supreme Court, and whether the senior officials in the government would fail to tell him at least this much. However, one minister opined that since the entire matter is part of a political game, everyone is maintaining silence.