Government calling 'special session' to grab political mileage in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu polls: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday alleged that the government has called a "special session" for passing bills related to the women's quota law and delimitation to "grab political mileage" in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu polls which is a "gross violation" of the model code of conduct.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the government kept "sleeping" for 30 months after the passage of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, and to take "double credit" in the election season.

He said there has been no official communication or proposal from the government's side on delimitation.

"However, off the record, we got to know that there would be a proportionate increase in seats in Lok Sabha seats," Ramesh said at a press conference here.

He said the claim is that it would be proportional but the reality is that smaller states and those in the South, Northeast, and West would suffer massively.

With the proposed Bill, Uttar Pradesh's strength will zoom to 120 while Kerala will crawl up to at best 40, he claimed.

"So what we have heard unofficially this would be very dangerous for many states," he said.

"The only objective of this special session is to grab political mileage to influence polls in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Could it not have been called after 15 days?" Ramesh said.

Leaders of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi will call a meeting of senior Congress MPs and then hold a meeting with other opposition leaders before April 16 to strategise on this.

This government functions on "narrative management". They want to call a "special session" as they are losing the political and foreign policy narrative, Ramesh said.

The government should not be in a hurry and call an all-party meeting after April 29, he asserted.

His remarks come after it emerged that the Budget session of Parliament will reconvene on April 16 after a brief recess to pass bills to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats from 543 to 816 so that the women's reservation law can be implemented at the earliest, in what is expected to be the latest flashpoint between the government and the opposition amid the poll season.

While the government is keen on passing the bills, including amending the women's reservation bill or Nari Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, the opposition has accused the Centre of trying to hurriedly move for passing amendments to take political advantage in the state elections.

The two Houses will reconvene on April 16, with sources saying the sitting will likely be for three days to take up the proposed legislations.

"The government has stated that both the Houses will meet on April 16,17 and 18 and there will be a special session. The first thing is that Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on March 16 wrote to Congress chief Kharge that the government wants to have talks with the Congress for making amendments in the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam. Kharge ji responded saying that an all-party meeting be called with all parties sitting together as the government believes in divide and rule," he said.

On March 24, all opposition parties wrote to Rijiju and said all party meetings will be called after April 29 as the model code of conduct is in place and political parties are busy with elections, he said.

"After two days on March 26, Rijiju wrote to Kharge ji that Congress should meet us and hold talks on the constitutional amendment. Half an hour later, Kharge ji responded to Rijiju and reiterated the demand for an all party meeting after April 29," he said, narrating the sequence of events.

The government had made up its mind to call a "special session" in early April before Kerala and Assam polls but as this letter exchanges went on for some time and their attempt was thwarted, Ramesh said.

"Then they took a one-sided decision to call the session when campaigning would be on for polls in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu and the MCC is in place," he said.

In all these letters, there was talk only of amendment to women's reservation bill but now it is clear that this special session is also about delimitation, Ramesh said.

"There had been no talk of delimitation. Rijiju never said delimitation was also on the agenda. In these three days, the women's quota law would be amended and there would be a constitution amendment related to delimitation," he said.

When the women's quota was passed in September 2023, the government said it would be implemented after Census and delimitation, he recalled.

"Kharge ji had back then demanded that it should be immediately implemented as you don't need Census or delimitation but they said delimitation and census was necessary. They kept sleeping for 30 months," Ramesh said.

And suddenly the government said the census results would come till 2029, he said, adding this is in contradiction to what the Registrar General said recently.

The government has been holding back-channel talks with the Opposition to bring at least two bills to implement the women's reservation law and delink delimitation from the Census to increase seats in Lok Sabha from the present 543 to 816.

The issue saw a war of words between the treasury and opposition benches in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, with Leader of House J P Nadda stressing that the government has the right to decide on the timing when a legislation has to be brought in, while Kharge accused the government of being a "bully", and claimed that the BJP was trying to draw political mileage out of the issue of women's reservation.

The Congress on Wednesday had claimed that the Modi government is proposing to "bulldoze" a bill to increase the size of the Lok Sabha by 50 per cent with the number of seats allocated to each state also to be increased by 50 per cent, and said such a move would "disadvantage" smaller states in the South, Northeast and West.

There was no official word on the Opposition party's claims.

The sitting starting April 16 is part of the second half of the Budget session.

According to the government calendar, the House was scheduled to adjourn sine die (for an indefinite period) on April 2.

While elections in Puducherry, Assam and Kerala are scheduled for April 9, polls in West Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. In Tamil Nadu, polls will be held in a single phase on April 23.