Centre indulging in conspiracy against southern States through delimitation: Telangana CM

New Delhi [India], March 13 (ANI): Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday 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.
The Chief Minister was speaking to the media after meeting a DMK delegation in Delhi to discuss joint action to ensure that the delimitation will not reduce the share of seats in the Parliament.
"This is not a delimitation of constituencies, but an attempt to reduce the importance of the southern states," Reddy said.
The Chief Minister said that any attempt to reduce the political importance of the southern States will not be tolerated.
"We (southern states) have served the country a lot. The BJP does not have much representation from the southern states. The BJP wants to take revenge on these states where they faced defeat," Reddy said.
"We will thwart the conspiracies hatched by the BJP-led central government against the southern states. The Congress already decided in principle to fight against the Central government," he added.
The Chief Minister said that he would participate in the meeting called by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin in Chennai on March 22 to discuss the strategy of the States that are potentially disadvantaged by the delimitation process.
He also said that he would call an all-party meeting in Telangana to discuss the delimitation.
The Chief Minister instructed Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and former Minister K Jana Reddy to invite leaders of all parties to the all-party meeting.
"The BJP leaders should participate in the meeting and bring the views expressed in the meeting to the attention of the Union Cabinet. Since Union minister Kishan Reddy hailed from Telangana, he should safeguard the state's interests," the Chief Minister said.
The CM appealed to everyone to work for the protection of the rights of the southern states, regardless of their political affiliations. He said 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.
The DMK delegation, led by the state's Municipal Administration Minister K.N. Nehru, handed over a letter written by the Tamil Nadu CM to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.
In the letter, Tamil Nadu CM Stalin stated that although there are provisions that the delimitation of constituencies should not be carried out until the national census is to be 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. The DMK delegation who met CM Revanth Reddy included Special Representative AKS Vijayan, DMK Parliamentary Party Leader Kanimozhi, and DMK MPs A. Raja, N.R. Ilango, Kalanithi Veeraswamy and Arun Nehru. (ANI)