Andhra Pradesh: Reservations for Muslims is social justice and not appeasement, says BJP ally TDP

The purpose of providing reservations in education and government jobs to Muslims in Andhra Pradesh is social justice and not appeasement, said Telugu Desam Party leader Nara Lokesh on Friday, NDTV reported.

During an interview with the news channel, the Telugu Desam Party leader said that reservations for the community in the state had been in place for the last two decades. “We stand by it,” said Lokesh, who is the son of Chief Minister-designate N Chandrababu Naidu.

The Telugu Desam Party along with its allies, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Jana Sena Party, won the Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday. Naidu is set to be sworn in as the chief minister on June 12, NDTV reported.

The party is also a key part of the National Democratic Alliance which is set to form its government at the Centre. In the just-concluded general elections, the Telugu Desam Party emerged as the single-largest party in Andhra Pradesh, winning 16 out of the state’s 25 Lok Sabha seats.

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders repeatedly claimed that the Congress had diverted quotas meant for backward classes toward Muslim beneficiaries. They cited the 4% reservations for Muslims under the Other Backward Classes category in Telangana and Andhra...

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