VIJAYAWADA: TDP State president and Gajuwaka MLA Palla Srinivasa Rao has come down heavily on the Congress and its allies, accusing them of obstructing major reforms aimed at advancing gender justice and safeguarding the federal balance.
Srinivasa Rao termed the Opposition’s resistance to the Women’s Reservation and Reorganisation Amendment Bills as a ‘historic betrayal of women’ and ‘a deliberate attempt to weaken the political voice of southern India.’
He emphasised that the 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and the proposed 50% increase in Parliamentary seats must be viewed as a single, integrated reform. “By expanding seats alongside reservation, the government avoids redistribution conflicts and instead expands democratic representation in a meaningful way,” Rao said and made a pointed observation on the demographic realities of southern India, highlighting a consistent decline in population growth rates across southern States. Saying that the Southern States are witnessing a steady decline in population growth not by accident, but by design, Rao said this is the outcome of decades of strict population control policies, higher literacy, and better public health systems.
He warned that any delimitation exercise based purely on population would penalise success and reward demographic imbalance.
“States that have responsibly controlled population growth should not be politically disadvantaged for their efficiency. That would be a perverse incentive structure,” he added.
Rao described the proposal for a uniform 50% increase in LS seats across all States as a corrective mechanism.