Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday said his government will introduce a Bill to provide 12% reservation to Muslims in the state. He said the government will also ask the Centre to include the law in the Constitution’s 9th schedule, reported IANS. The Telangana government will approach the courts if the central government refused the proposal, he added.

“We will put up the Muslim Reservation Bill in the upcoming Budget Session itself,” he said. Providing Muslims 12% reservation was one of the election promises made by Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi. The chief minister said the decision was based on social, economic and educational factors, not religion.

Rao believes that the 12% quota will take the overall reservation in the state to beyond 50%, which is the limit prescribed by the Supreme Court. In 1994, when the Tamil Nadu government had introduced the 12% quota for Muslims, it took the state’s overall reservation quota to 69%. However, the reservations were included in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution. ”When Tamil Nadu can do it, why not Telangana?” Rao.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Akbaruddin Owaisi said the Telangana government should ensure that the existing 4% quota for minorities was not affected, The Hindu reported.