The Telangana Assembly on Sunday passed two significant amendment bills — the Telangana Municipalities (Third Amendment) Bill, 2025 and the Telangana Panchayat Raj (Third Amendment) Bill, 2025 — to provide 42% reservation for Backward Classes (BCs) in local bodies. The bills were approved by voice vote following a heated debate between the ruling Congress and the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), both accusing each other of failing to implement enhanced BC reservations in the past.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy criticized the previous BRS government, alleging that it reduced BC reservation to maintain the overall 50% cap. He accused former Chief Minister and BRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao of opposing BC empowerment and enacting laws — the Panchayat Raj Act 2018 and the Municipalities Act 2019 — that restricted any increase beyond 50%.

Responding to opposition claims, Revanth Reddy said the state government had taken every possible step to enhance BC quota, including writing letters to the Prime Minister five times and organizing a major protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. He also revealed that two bills passed in March to implement 42% BC reservation in education, jobs, and local bodies are still awaiting Presidential assent.

The Chief Minister explained that the government conducted a caste survey through the Dedication Commission as per High Court directives and based on the findings, drafted these two bills. He accused the BRS of influencing the Governor to stall an ordinance that would have implemented the reservation earlier. Meanwhile, the BRS questioned the Congress government’s sincerity and demanded to know why it had not taken an all-party delegation to Delhi to push for Presidential approval.

Minister for Backward Classes Welfare Ponnam Prabhakar confirmed that the 42% reservation for BCs will be implemented in the upcoming local body elections.