TN pushes back on Waqf, Telangana on delimitation

The Telangana assembly on Thursday adopted a resolution asserting that population should not be the sole yardstick for the delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies even as the Tamil Nadu legislature passed a resolution against the controversial Waqf amendment bill, accusing the Centre of discrimination against minorities.

- Srinivasa Rao Apparasu and Divya Chandrababu

The twin developments represented a pushback by the two prominent southern states both ruled by constituents of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance - on two crucial issues that can shape national politics.

The chief minister of a third state, Hemant Soren of Jharkhand, also said on Thursday that he was ready to take on the Centre politically if delimitation led to reduction of seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes.

Telangana joined other states such as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in opposing delimitation, with chief minister A Revanth Reddy alleging that a population-based criteria could lead to 6 percentage point drop in the representation of southern states in the Lok Sabha. It was passed unanimously.

He appealed to the parties in Telangana to jointly speak to the Centre to safeguard the state's interests. "If the Centre is on the same page (to our cause) fine, otherwise, we need to build a struggle," he said.

The developments came five days after a joint action committee (JAC) comprising the chief ministers of four states and political leaders from three others -Reddy was a part of the meeting- urged the Centre to extend the freeze on the delimitation on parliamentary constituencies by another 25 years, upping the ante on a contentious exercise that can widen the chasm between India's northern and southern regions.