BHUBANESWAR: Senior BJP leader and Union Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday came down heavily on BJD president Naveen Patnaik for his ‘misleading’ statement on the delimitation exercise.
After the 131st Constitution Amendment Bill failed to pass the Lok Sabha, Naveen said the BJD was completely against reducing the political power of Odisha through delimitation. “People are indeed shocked that not a single BJP MP from Odisha raised their voice against this injustice. BJD will always continue to fight for the rights of Odisha,” he had said.
Pradhan, in a post on X, describing his statement to media as surprising. “Such remarks from a leader of his stature create confusion among the people of Odisha. After the delimitation exercise the number of Lok Sabha seats in Odisha would have increased by 50 per cent from 21 to 31,” he said.
Earlier, the BJD president had written to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and all the MPs from Odisha, stating if the Bill was implemented, it would reduce Odisha’s share in the Lok Sabha from 3.9 per cent to 3.4 per cent.
Terming the remarks of the BJD president as “baseless and laughable”, the Union minister said during the discussion on the 131st Constitution Amendment Bill in Parliament on April 16 and 17, Home minister Amit Shah had clearly assured that representation of all states, including Odisha, will increase by 50 per cent.
Lok Sabha seats from Odisha would have increased from 21 to 32, Pradhan said and added, at least 11 women would have got opportunity to represent Odisha as new MPs due to women’s reservation. Stating that Odisha’s current share in Lok Sabha is 3.87 per cent, Pradhan said after delimitation, it would have increased to 3.91 per cent.