BRS, BJP Skip Telangana’s All-party Meet on Delimitation

HYDERABAD:
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stayed away from the all-party meeting convened by Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on the issue of delimitation of parliamentary constituencies.

The meeting, held at the Secretariat on Monday, was called to deliberate on the concerns regarding the proposed delimitation exercise, which could potentially reduce the political representation of southern states, including Telangana, in the Lok Sabha.

The absence of both the BRS and BJP from the discussions has drawn sharp criticism from the ruling Congress. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy alleged that the BJP-led Centre’s approach to delimitation was politically motivated and aimed at benefiting northern states at the cost of the south. He also took a swipe at the BRS for not participating, suggesting that the party’s silence indicates tacit support for the BJP’s policies.

Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy, who heads the BJP in Telangana, cited prior commitments, including constituency engagements on International Women’s Day, as the reason for skipping the meeting. The BRS, on the other hand, did not officially state its reasons for non-participation.

Several regional parties and leaders from the southern states have been voicing concerns that the proposed delimitation, based on population, would favor states with higher birth rates while diminishing the representation of states that have successfully controlled population growth. This has sparked a larger debate on the north-south divide in national politics.
Despite the absence of the BRS and BJP, representatives from other regional parties, including the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), attended the meeting and expressed their views on the contentious issue.

The Telangana government is expected to take further steps, including possibly seeking legal options, to ensure that the state’s political representation is not adversely affected by the delimitation process.