Centre must not take unilateral decision on delimitation: Keshava Rao

Hyderabad: State government advisor K Keshava Rao urged all the political parties including BJP to find an amicable solution to the issue of delimitation for the sake of strengthening the nation’s federal structure. Rao, who will be writing to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, urged the Centre to alleviate the concerns raised by States, particularly in wake of the latter announcing delimitation on the basis of ‘pro rata’.

Addressing a press conference at his residence on Sunday, he said that Hyderabad was gearing up for hosting the next meeting and urged cooperation from all the political parties. Describing Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin as the protagonist of the ‘movement’ against population-based delimitation, he said CM A Revanth Reddy has emerged as a ‘hero’ following the Chennai meeting. “I am about to submit a letter to Amit Shah in this regard. By the time the next meeting is held here, all should be backing the leadership of Revanth Reddy. I urge everyone to not to hasten before presenting a representation to the Centre. This should be in cohesion through proper discussion,” he hoped.

Countering the argument of the BJP leaders that the Opposition was unnecessarily raising the alarm, Keshava Rao pointed out the necessity of delimitation exercise at this juncture was ordained by the Constitution. He said that it was a time-bound obligation that had to be done. However, he felt that postponement can be done if the Centre reconsiders while coming up with fresh guidelines.

While emphasising that the delimitation on the basis of ‘pro rata’ was an unscientific approach, he feared that Telugu States would lose a total of seven seats, including two from Telangana. On the other hand, the northern States would gain substantially. For instance UP would get 14, while Bihar around 11, Rajasthan about seven and MP and Haryana, five and two respectively. The Government Advisor on Public Policy explained how the southern states which implemented the birth control policy of the Centre with efficiency witnessed its population share drop by 5 per cent, when compared with the 1971 census. He expressed particular concern over the erosion of federalism under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration.

Responding to a question about how AP CM N Chandrababu Naidu encouraged to have more than two children, Keshava Rao urged the reporters to not to misinterpret his idea, as Babu was worried about the ageing population and was nurturing youth to contribute for development.