Fight against delimitation brings BRS, Congress together; BJP questions if parties are now I.N.D.I.A. members

Andhra parties gave the meeting a miss.

Hyderabad: While Andhra parties stayed away from the Chennai meeting on delimitation held on Saturday, the gathering brought two political rivals in Telangana—ruling Congress and opposition BRS—onto the same platform.

The BJP, working to gain ground in Telangana, quickly questioned whether BRS had joined the INDI Alliance by attending the meeting alongside Congress, and if both parties have a secret deal. Despite receiving an invitation from DMK, Andhra Pradesh's opposition party YSRCP declined to attend.

Instead, YSRCP chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing concerns about the delimitation exercise scheduled for 2026. As NDA partners, both TDP and Jana Sena also abstained from the meeting.

"Why did BRS take part in the Chennai meeting? Had it joined INDI Alliance?" asked Nizamabad BJP MP, Dharmapuri Aravind.

"It is now evident that Congress and BRS are the same. Congress is attempting to shield KCR's family from corruption charges. Instead of fighting for the six guarantees, BRS has made a secret deal with Congress. Both parties have united in Chennai. The liquor mafia has come together. BJP's rise to power in Telangana is inevitable. Once BJP comes to power, we will provide free quality education and healthcare to the poor. BJP is strong in the state. KCR's dream of making a mark in national politics is over. KCR, who once boasted about dominating national politics, is now tending grass in his farmhouse," said Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Bandi Sanjay Kumar.

Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena, an ally of the BJP, said it had declined the invite from DMK to attend the meeting to discuss delimitation. Pawan Kalyan's political secretary and MLC P Hariprasad said Jana Sena was invited to the all-party meeting organised by the DMK party in Chennai to discuss the reorganization of constituencies. However, the Jana Sena Party informed that they couldn't attend the meeting. He said there were rumors that Jana Sena attended the meeting, but clarified that it was just speculation.

"The DMK party representatives extended an invitation to Jana Sena to participate in the meeting. Jana Sena will announce their stance on the reorganization of constituencies on an official platform," said Hariprasad.

Interestingly, though there were indications initially that YSRCP would attend the all-party meeting, on the day of the meeting the Andhra opposition party skipped it without citing any reasons. However, coinciding with the meeting, Jagan wrote to Prime Minister Modi and also sent the same letter to DMK through his party's Rajya Sabha member, Y V Subba Reddy.

Jagan, in the letter to Modi, expressed concern over the possible erosion of southern states' participation in national policy-making if the delimitation process was conducted based on the states' present population.

He said that though he was 'thankful' for the Union Home Minister Amit Shah's recent assurance that the delimitation exercise would be undertaken mindful of the need to ensure a proportionate increase of seats for all states, he, however, wanted to point out the constitutional impediment through Article 81(2)(a) to such a relaxation.