Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Sunday claimed that the Union education ministry had been jinxed, as the four BJP leaders who have held the portfolio so far have faced political problems.
Speaking to the media on Sunday at Hyderabad, he said that Smriti Irani, Prakash Javadekar, and Ramesh Pokhriyal are no longer MPs, while Dharmendra Pradhan has had to resign.
Congratulating the new education minister in-charge, Pralhad Joshi, he said: “I hope Joshi saab will do well and won’t have to suffer the same fate."
Talking about the Cockroach Janata Party’s (CJP) recent success, the CM said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi thought himself invincible, but the youth defeated him. He reiterated his demand that the age limit for contesting Assembly and Lok Sabha elections should be brought down to 21 years.
“Youth at this age are building start-ups, cracking civil services, achieving excellence in several areas. Why can’t they be allowed to contest elections? Indeed, they should hold the education portfolio,” he suggested. He promised to reserve the education ministry in his government for a young leader if the Centre reduced the contesting age to 21.
The CM said that the PM did not heed the Opposition’s advice to withdraw the three farm laws after introducing them, but did so only after months-long protests by farmers. He added that this time too, the PM did not pay heed to the Opposition’s demand to sack Dharmendra Pradhan, but finally, a youth movement ensured accountability.
When asked if the CJP’s growth could trouble Congress, he said that that wouldn't happen.
“Indeed, Congress has been supportive of the demands of the youth. We are not worried at all,” he said.
When reporters suggested that Congress could not anticipate the prospective success of the youth movement, Revanth Reddy said it was never the case.
“We gave the youth movement the passage so that they could lead the movement apolitically,” he explained.
The CM announced that he would meet the Congress leadership on Monday and present a note on the 21-year-old age limit. Specifically, Revanth Reddy has demanded that the minimum age for contesting Assembly and Lok Sabha elections be brought down to 21 years and that for Legislative Council and Rajya Sabha elections to 25 years.
He recalled that it was during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure that the voting age was brought down from 21 years to 18, while the minimum age for contesting local elections was set at 21 during P. V. Narasimha Rao’s tenure.
He also pointed out that the reduction in the age limit is a must, and that the Centre should introduce this Bill along with the delimitation, women’s reservation, and other proposed bills at the monsoon session of the Parliament.
