Call all-party meet to discuss delimitation bill: Kharge to PM Modi

NEW DELHI: Amid reports that govt is looking to reintroduce delimitation bill in the Monsoon session, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge Thursday wrote to PM Narendra Modi, urging him to call an all-party meeting to discuss the revised Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill.Kharge wrote that he had repeatedly asked the parliamentary affairs minister for an all-party meeting during the Budget session, but his demand was not heeded, after which the delimitation bill fell in Lok Sabha on April 17 — a reference to the defeat of the govt bill which the opposition termed as being in name for women’s reservation but having the real objective of delimiting Lok Sabha seats on the basis of population to advantage BJP and hurt the southern states.Kharge wrote to Modi that he has been reading media reports about govt move to reintroduce the bill with some changes, urging the PM that he should share the details with the opposition and give it adequate time to study the proposal before it is introduced in Parliament.Kharge’s initiative to settle the heightened speculation over the bill came even as Congress said that despite splitting TMC and Shiv Sena, Modi govt is far from achieving the 2/3rd majority required to pass a constitutional amendment bill.AICC spokesman Jairam Ramesh said Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, and the Congress leadership are in touch with all the parties “that voted against the said bill in April”, and discounted the possibility of DMK and NCP voting in its favour on reintroduction.“The home minister is trying his best to break the parties to achieve the majority mark, but he is far from it. He is attempting to achieve a tainted majority by splitting parties, which is against the people’s mandate and the constitution,” he said.About DMK with which Congress had a bitter falling out, Ramesh said Congress is in touch with the Tamil Nadu party. “They are fundamentally opposed to the ideology of BJP and the way delimitation has been done in Assam and J&K,” Ramesh said, including SP in his remarks.Get the latest India news and live updates. Download the TOI App.