The Telangana Chief Minister, A Revanth Reddy, has said that an action plan is being prepared to thwart the Central government’s conspiracy against the Southern States through the delimitation of Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies. “This is not delimitation of constituencies, but an attempt to reduce the importance of the Southern States,” he said.
Reddy has been invited by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin to attend a meeting to be held in Chennai on March 22 to discuss the strategy. According to an official release, a DMK delegation led by Tamil Nadu’s Municipal Administration Minister KN Nehru handed over a letter written by the Tamil Nadu CM to Reddy in Delhi on Thursday.
The official release said that, in the letter, Stalin has stated that although there are provisions that the delimitation of constituencies should not be carried out until the national census is conducted after 2026, the Central government has brought this process to the fore even before the census.
Stalin requested Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, West Bengal, Odisha and Punjab to agree to join the Joint Action Committee (JAC). He suggested in the letter that a representative from the Telangana Congress Party be appointed in the JAC to take up future action.
Speaking to media after the meeting, Reddy warned that his government will not tolerate any attempt to reduce the importance of the Southern States, the statement said.
Reddy said that he will attend the meeting in Chennai with the permission of the Congress party’s high command. The Chief Minister said that they have decided to organise an all-party meeting to discuss the delimitation of constituencies in Telangana State as well.
“The CM appealed to everyone to work for the protection of the rights of the Southern States, regardless of political parties and clarified that a plan of action will be formulated on the steps to be taken to overcome the losses associated with the delimitation of the constituencies in a meeting to be held in Chennai on March 22,” he said.
