BJP caught in sticky wicket as Cong unmasks it on quotas: Bhatti

Hyderabad: Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka alleged that CM Revanth Reddy was booked by the Delhi Police at the behest of the ruling BJP at the Center for speaking out against the saffron party’s plan to remove reservations.

Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan while condemning the way the “federal spirit” has been undermined by the ruling BJP, Bhatti said those at the helm are trying to threaten the chief minister with a State for having “told the truth” by accusing “bad case”. “This is a dangerous trend as the federal spirit is being sacrificed on the altar of the BJP’s autocratic approach to power. It is necessary to preserve the federal spirit as Indian democracy thrives on multi-partyism. This is nothing more than a restriction of freedom of expression. This is the main reason why the British were thrown out of India,” the Deputy CM pointed out.

Responding to questions on Amit Shah’s reference to Muslim reservations, but not other categories, Bhatti said that since then, the BJP’s mask has slipped and they are now trying to find all kinds of explanations. “BJP and RSS want to remove reservations. Now that the mask has fallen, they are trying to hide it. I can name several RSS and BJP leaders who have openly spoken against reservations in the past,” Bhatti said, citing MG Vaidya, Ananth Kumar Hegde, former LS president Sumitra Majahan, among others. On the Medigadda dam issue, Bhatti said until the “judicial inquiry” is completed, nothing can be said about the functioning of the project. He said there were several technical issues involved and experts with comprehensive knowledge of the projects were involved.