Senior Congress MPs to discuss strategy with allies for special session of Parliament on April 9

New Delhi: As Modi government intends to implement women's quota at the earliest after redrawing constituencies, Congress on Friday sounded its objections to the proposal of increasing seats in legislatures by 50 per cent, saying it will disturb the present differentials and relative strength of states and put those in south, north-west and north-east in a disadvantage.

To firm up its strategy, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has called a meeting of party's senior MPs on April 9 followed by deliberations with Opposition parties before Parliament reconvenes on April 16.

General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said they have not received any information officially about delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats while Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has only referred to early implementation of 33 per cent women's quota in Rajya Sabha and letters to Kharge, who is also Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha.

The reconvening of the Budget Session on April 16 for three days for passing bills for early implementation of 33 per cent quota and delimitation was to "grab political mileage" in the Assembly polls in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu later this month is a "gross violation" of Model Code of Conduct, Ramesh said.

He said the Opposition unanimously demanded an all-party meeting after the conclusion of Assembly elections on April 29 but the government has gone ahead "unilaterally" to call the session in the midst of polls for Modi to take "credit" for the initiative.

Referring to the proposal of increasing 50 per cent seats, he said the government is talking about "proportional increase" in seats but it would lead to a "huge loss" for south, north-west and north-east states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Haryana and Punjab. This will have "dangerous" consequences, he said.

Emphasising that the difference of seats in states will increase, he said the proposal would mean that Uttar Pradesh's Lok Sabha strength would zoom from 80 to 120 while Kerala will crawl from 20 to 30. This would mean that the existing difference of 60 seats will rise to 90 seats though there is proportional increase, he said, adding the same is the case with other states too.

"Delimitation is a serious issue. Some states should not face impact. There is something hidden in this proportionate increase. The current relative strength should not be weakened. There should not be any hurry. What we need is unanimity...We do not want any disturbance in the present differentials and relative strength. No state should suffer," he told a press conference.

On the move for early implementation of 33 per cent quota, he recalled Kharge's speech in Rajya Sabha in September 2023 in which he demanded the immediate implementation of the women's reservation from 2024 Lok Sabha polls. 

Ramesh said the government then spoke about delimitation after a Census but now after "sleeping" for 30 months after the passage of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, it has now decided to take "double credit" in the election season.

"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?" he said, adding that the government functions on "narrative management" at a time they are losing the political and foreign policy narrative.