Telangana parties slam Amit Shah’s remarks on delimitation

Hyderabad: Union Home Minister Amit Shah's assurance that the southern states will not lose a single parliamentary seat due to delimitation drew sharp criticism on Thursday from the ruling Congress and opposition BRS in Telangana.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president B Mahesh Kumar Goud urged the Centre to consult all states before proceeding with the delimitation exercise.

“We have certain doubts (on delimitation process). The central government has a responsibility to clarify them. We will not accept even if a single seat is reduced,” Goud told PTI.

Amit Shah had on Wednesday assured the southern states that they will not lose a "single parliamentary seat" due to delimitation and accused Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin of spreading "misinformation" on the issue.

The union minister was reacting to Stalin's remarks that the delimitation exercise would impact the southern states, especially Tamil Nadu, which the chief minister claimed stands to lose 8 out of its 39 Lok Sabha seats. He has convened an all-party meeting on 5 March to discuss the matter.

Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, earlier this month in Thiruvananthapuram, said the move to undertake the delimitation of Lok Sabha seats based on the new operational census is yet another step by the Centre to "sideline" South Indian states.

“It should be opposed as it will damage democracy. Why should the south Indian states be punished for effectively implementing the family planning programme,” he had asked.

Reacting to Shah’s comments, BRS Working President K T Rama Rao termed the delimitation based on population as “certainly unjust”.

He said that in the 1980s, when family planning was prescribed, the southern states had done well and as a result the population was controlled in the south.

“Today to say that because your population is reduced, therefore I am cutting down your representation in Parliament is a travesty of justice,” he told PTI Videos.

Rama Rao said the BRS is demanding that population alone cannot be a parameter for representation in Parliament or creation of Parliament seats and the Centre also has to take into account contributions to the country.

According to him, the South, which is only 19 per cent of India in terms of population, contributes 36 per cent to the economy.

Telangana with only 2.8 per cent of India’s population contributes 5.1 per cent to the GDP, the BRS leader noted.