Congress's Hanumantha Rao demands caste-wise census in Telangana, warns of protest during PM Modi's visit

He claimed that nobody cared about the backward classes and therefore the party will raise a voice against it by staging a protest during PM Modi's visit which is slated to take place on November 12.

Hyderabad (Telangana): Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Telangana, Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao on Thursday warned of protest while demanding caste-wise census in the state stating that the party will fight for it. Speaking to ANI, Rao said that the population of Other Backward Classes (OBC) has increased, and recounted the demands for the caste-wise census raised by heads of governments across various states. Rao cited the example of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who has been vocal on the issue demanding caste-wise census for a number of months now.

"Modi is the first OBC PM and we were very happy. But what did he do for OBC in 8 years? I was once OBC Convenor. Caste-wise census should be done. Our population percentage has increased. Rajnath Singh in 2008 said that the caste-wise census should be done. Even Nitish Kumar is saying the same and it is being asked in every state that caste-wise census should be done," he said.

"There are people who don't have food to eat, if you don't increase the reservation then how? There is no OBC ministry in the Central government. But Prime Minister doesn't do anything for the OBC, where the highest population is OBC," the Congress leader added.

He further claimed that nobody cared about the backward classes and therefore the party will raise a voice against it by staging a protest during PM Modi's visit which is slated to take place on November 12. "The Mandal commission was started in 1993, but nobody cares about backward classes. So we will raise our voice. We will protest whenever the PM visits Telangana. Our vote bank is more in the country and we will fight for the caste-wise census," he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to lay the foundation stone of projects worth over Rs. 10,500 crores and Rs. 9500 crores respectively on November 12, officials said. At around 3:30 PM, Prime Minister will visit the RFCL plant in Ramagundam, Telangana. Thereafter, at around 4:15 PM, Prime Minister will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple projects at Ramagundam. (ANI)

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