Hyderabad, Apr 13 (PTI) Warning that delimitation based on pro rata would cause “injustice” to southern states, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday called for a consensus-building process through wider consultations with political parties and others.
Addressing a press conference here, Reddy alleged a “conspiracy” by the BJP to ensure that southern states are stripped of their political influence.
He favoured implementing 33 per cent reservation for women with the existing number of Lok Sabha seats.
Reddy urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider a ‘hybrid’ model of delimitation in which 50 per cent seats would be increased on a pro rata basis and the remaining 50 per cent based on GSDP.
“I want to give an example. As on date, there are 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala. In UP, there are 80. The difference between the two is 60. If 50 per cent seats are increased on pro rata basis, there will be 30 seats in Kerala and 120 in Uttar Pradesh. There will be a gap of 90 seats between the two,” he said.
If the number of Lok Sabha seats are increased by 50 per cent on pro rata basis, they will increase from 130 to 195 in the south and 413 in rest of the country from 413 to about 620 seats, he said.
“This would further weaken the southern states politically and make them second category citizens politically, while smaller states like Delhi and Punjab would lose political relevance,” he claimed.
Alleging that the BJP is seeking to increase seats by 50 per cent on pro rata basis out of political expediency, Reddy said 195 seats in the south and 620 seats in the north would cause a major difference between the south and north.
“This is not good for the country’s existence. This is not a matter concerning political parties. It is an issue concerning people of the country. We have seen where discrimination would lead to, Telangana formation agitation, Naxalite agitation are before us,” he said.
The BJP, while trying to get the bill for implementing women’s reservation passed in Parliament, is further increasing the discrimination and causing injustice to smaller states and southern states, he alleged.
The Congress would fully support the women’s reservation bill amendments, and 33 per cent of existing 543 LS seats (181) should be allocated to women, Reddy said.
Women’s reservation is something different from enhancing the number of seats and delimitation, he said.
The Congress party has appointed female leaders to higher offices, including President, Prime Minister, Lok Sabha speaker, as well as Governor and Chief Ministers and the Congress party’s president.
“Women’s empowerment is in our DNA, whereas the BJP appointed 15 party president’s so far, but till date they have not appointed a woman as its party president or party’s general secretary organisation. They cannot teach us,” he said.
The southern states, which effectively controlled population are “financial capitals” (with higher GDP), while the northern states are “political capitals”, he claimed.
“Political capitals” always see “financial capitals” to be subservient to them, he said.
“We are against paying taxes and then saying ‘salam’ (in Delhi). I would like to tell Modi ji clearly. Your conspiracy would cause a big problem in the country in the long run,” he said.
As per the ‘hybrid’ model of delimitation being proposed by him, of the 272 Lok Sabha seats proposed to be increased by the NDA government, 136 can by increased on pro rata basis, while the remaining 136 can be divided on the basis of GSDP.
This will amount to “respecting” the states which controlled population and contributed major revenue to the country’s economy, he claimed.
“We (southern states) are contributing the highest revenue to the country, generating employment opportunities and working to strengthen the country. Therefore, who gave you the power to punish us ?,” Reddy said.
According to him, the Centre should undertake a consensus-building process by holding consultations with all political parties, stakeholders, civil society on the modalities to be adopted for increasing the number of constituencies. An experts committee should also be appointed.
Delimitation or increasing the number of constituencies should be taken up only after finalising the Terms of Reference and holding a debate on the expert committee’s report in the state assemblies and parliament.
Reddy further said he will write to the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and smaller states besides political parties.
“…because this is the time to take a firm decision and we have to express our firm opinion on the issue,” he said.
Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, Union Coal Minister G Kishan Reddy said Congress never responded positively to women’s reservation despite being in power for long though stalwarts like B R Ambedkar also favoured it.
He said a delimitation committee headed by a Supreme Court judge, state-level committees would be appointed and public opinions elicited. PTI SJR VVK SJR ROH
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