Southern States are being punished at the cost of development by the Centre: Revanth

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy calls for unity in South India to end discrimination and protect constitutional guarantees from political parties.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy said the Southern states are being punished at the cost of development and said it was time people of South India got united to put pressure on the political parties to end this discrimination.

Mr. Reddy, who was speaking at the ‘Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters’ organised by the Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday, said political parties will have their compulsions if they are asked to take up the agitation but people should put pressure on the parties to safeguard the guarantees provided by the Indian Constitution.

Touching on the delimitation of constituencies based on population, he said Southern States would lose out hugely and the BJP could form the government at the Centre based on the seats they win in just four States — Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

“So the Southern states are being punished because they strictly followed family planning based on the policies of the Indian government,” he asked reminding that only a strong and united voice from the South can put pressure.

Mr. Reddy said he had suggested to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increase the number of constituencies in southern States by 50%. For example, Kerala currently has 20 seats and 10 more seats can be added. Telangana has 17 MP seats and 9 more will be added. If this is not accepted, there will never be any need for southern States to form government at the Centre. “This trend will completely destroy the democratic spirit.”

Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of taking over the rights of the States and turning them into local bodies, he said the ‘One Nation-One Election’ should not be accepted as national elections are different from State elections.

If necessary, ‘One State-One Election’ should be enforced by holding Gram Panchayats, MPTCs, Zilla Parishad, Municipality, Cooperative elections simultaneously since political parties make many political promises.