Exempt south or hike seats to 33%: Revanth | Hyderabad News
Hyderabad: CM A Revanth Reddy has called for southern states and Punjab to be exempted from any population-based delimitation exercise, which he said could drastically reduce the political influence of south, shifting power towards northern states.
Speaking at the first meeting of CMs and senior leaders on delimitation in Chennai on Saturday, he said, “The north will make us secondary citizens. We will not accept an unfair delimitation that marginalises our states.”
The meeting also resolved to hold a follow-up meeting in Hyderabad in April.
In his address, Revanth proposed that if BJP wants delimitation, then south’s share of Lok Sabha seats should be hiked to 33%, up from current 24%.
“Today, south has 130 seats out of 543 in LS. The political demand of southern states is to increase this to 33% after delimitation. Anything less would reduce the south to a passive audience in the political theatre of India,” he said.
He also recommended that the Centre could follow the example set by previous prime ministers such as Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who did not increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha, but realigned constituencies based on Census, taking the state as a unit.
He urged the Centre to either refrain from applying population-based delimitation or adopt an alternative that would protect the interests of the south, ensuring that states such as Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Punjab did not lose their rightful representation in the LS.
Revanth stressed that the proposed population-based formula would put southern states at a severe disadvantage, with the north gaining an even larger share of LS seats.
“The north will dominate, and we will lose our voice. We cannot allow that to happen,” he asserted.
“We are one country. We respect it. But we have to stop the BJP from implementing any unfair delimitation. BJP is implementing a policy of demographic penalty. Since 1971, when India decided to adopt family planning as a national priority, south India has done very well, but big states in north India have failed.”
He further said, “The problem with pro-rata is it changes the power gap. The central govt (existence) is decided by a majority of one seat. We have a history of a central govt falling because of just one vote. So, the pro-rata formula will hurt us politically.”
Speaking at the first meeting of CMs and senior leaders on delimitation in Chennai on Saturday, he said, “The north will make us secondary citizens. We will not accept an unfair delimitation that marginalises our states.”
The meeting also resolved to hold a follow-up meeting in Hyderabad in April.
In his address, Revanth proposed that if BJP wants delimitation, then south’s share of Lok Sabha seats should be hiked to 33%, up from current 24%.
“Today, south has 130 seats out of 543 in LS. The political demand of southern states is to increase this to 33% after delimitation. Anything less would reduce the south to a passive audience in the political theatre of India,” he said.
He also recommended that the Centre could follow the example set by previous prime ministers such as Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who did not increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha, but realigned constituencies based on Census, taking the state as a unit.
He urged the Centre to either refrain from applying population-based delimitation or adopt an alternative that would protect the interests of the south, ensuring that states such as Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Punjab did not lose their rightful representation in the LS.
Revanth stressed that the proposed population-based formula would put southern states at a severe disadvantage, with the north gaining an even larger share of LS seats.
“The north will dominate, and we will lose our voice. We cannot allow that to happen,” he asserted.
“We are one country. We respect it. But we have to stop the BJP from implementing any unfair delimitation. BJP is implementing a policy of demographic penalty. Since 1971, when India decided to adopt family planning as a national priority, south India has done very well, but big states in north India have failed.”
He further said, “The problem with pro-rata is it changes the power gap. The central govt (existence) is decided by a majority of one seat. We have a history of a central govt falling because of just one vote. So, the pro-rata formula will hurt us politically.”
