Bengaluru: BJP continued Sunday the narrative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asserting that the party is working to ensure justice for women through 33% reservation by increasing seats via delimitation, while accusing the Congress of misleading the public.Addressing the media, BJP functionary Anurag Thakur dismissed allegations that the exercise would reduce representation for southern states.“The southern states have 24% representation despite having 20% of the population, while northern India has 27% representation for 30% of its population. We are ensuring pro-rata political representation and are not taking away anything from anyone. In fact, southern states stand to gain higher representation if the delimitation bill is passed,” Thakur said.
Meanwhile, Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya alleged that leaders like Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, who oppose delimitation citing losses to southern states, would ultimately be responsible if census-based seat allocation leads to reduced representation.“It was a practical proposal by the prime minister to increase seats by 50% across all states, but the opposition did not accept it. Siddaramaiah and Stalin will be accountable if southern states lose out when the delimitation commission determines seats solely on census data,” Surya said.However, Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar rejected BJP’s claims, accusing the party of attempting to undermine southern representation.Speaking at Ranebennur, Siddaramaiah clarified that Congress does not oppose women’s reservation, but objects to what it sees as an imbalance in constituency reorganisation.He warned that delimitation could disproportionately benefit northern states, particularly Uttar Pradesh, which may see a significant increase in Lok Sabha seats, while states like Karnataka would experience only marginal gains.Responding to criticism from Modi, Siddaramaiah said such remarks were politically motivated, especially with upcoming elections in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. “If the bill has overwhelming support in Parliament, why has the Centre not implemented it yet?” he said.Shivakumar echoed similar concerns, calling the move a “conspiracy” to reduce southern representation. “We have defeated their bill. This is just the beginning,” he said.
