The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party in Telangana has announced its support for women's reservations in parliament and assemblies. Party MLC Kavitha Kalwakuntla organized a protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on this issue, with the support of several TRS leaders who too arrived in Delhi.
However, the TRS party's record on providing adequate representation to women is not encouraging. Although the party has demanded 33 percent reservations in Lok Sabha and assemblies in its election manifestos, it has not given adequate representation to women in the party.
In the 2014 elections, the TRS party gave tickets to only six women, and this number reduced to four in 2018. In the first term after the 2018 elections, there was no woman minister in KCR's cabinet. Only Padma Devender Reddy was made the deputy speaker. Later, in a reshuffle, two women, Sabitha Indra Reddy and Satyavati Rathod, were made ministers.
In Parliament, the number of TRS women MPs has never exceeded one. In 2014, Kavitha Kalwakuntla was the sole female MP, and in 2019, only Maloth Kavitha is a female MP. Critics of the TRS are asking the party to prioritize setting its own house in order and provide 33 percent reservation within the party organization before attacking the Central government on this issue.
