Appealing to the Southern States to question the delimitation of Lok Sabha seats, the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) working president and IT Minister, K.T. Rama Rao said South States cannot be penalised for controlling their population growth and concentrating on development.
It is time for all the political parties in the South, cutting across party affiliations, to raise their voice against the injustice being done through the present process of delimitation of Lok Sabha seats after 2026, he said in a statement. Mr. Rama Rao said progressive policies of the Southern States were harming them while those unable to control their population to ensure proper distribution of resources were benefitting from the delimitation.
“How can the South States Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka get fewer Lok Sabha seats in the new delimitation for heeding the Centre’s suggestion on implementing population controlling measures,” he asked. He said just 18% of the country’s population residing in the South States were contributing 35% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and such progressive States contributing to the nation’s economy and development should not be ignored and put at a disadvantage.
The Minister said the states, particularly the North Indian states, that have ignored the Central Government’s population control measures were benefitting from the delimitation while those striving to strengthen the national economy were being undermined in the Lok Sabha delimitation process.
