Hyderabad: Taking exception to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s comments that southern states would face political injustice in the delimitation exercise, Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao on Wednesday, April 15, alleged that Reddy is playing divisive politics.

The southern states would not suffer any injustice, he said.

Reddy’s letters to the chief ministers (of southern states) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the south would suffer injustice is a divisive action, he said.

The Congress tries to divide people in the name of religion, caste and now on regional basis, he alleged.

“Southern states would not face injustice. PM Modi has said that there would be no injustice to any region (in the country). As the president (of BJP) of a south (state), I am saying there would be no injustice to southern states. We need to repel the Congress which is spreading false information,” Rao told reporters.

The BJP treats all regions of the country equally, he said.

Rao, who was speaking after flagging a scooter rally organised by BJP’s Mahila Morch and Yuva Morcha here in support of the women’s reservation bill to be tabled in parliament, said the women’s quota bill could not he passed in the past when the Congress was in power as the party lacked sincerity.

The Congress allies, including late Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav and RJD leader Lalu Prasad had opposed the bill then, he said. However, the women’s quota bill was passed in parliament in 2023 due to the efforts of PM Modi, he said.

Meanwhile, BJP MP and the party’s OBC Morcha national president K Laxman found fault with the ‘hybrid’ model proposed by Revanth Reddy for increasing Lok Sabha seats under which 50 per cent of the additional seats would be allocated on a pro rata basis and the remaining 50 per cent on Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) and other performance criteria.

Seeking to know whether the ‘hybrid’ model is the official stance of the Congress, Laxman said AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi should speak on it.

Observing that delimitation always takes place on a population basis, he said delimitation on the basis of GSDP is against the Constitution.

Referring to Reddy raising questions on delimitation, Laxman asked what was the criteria followed by the Congress government in Telangana in trifurcating the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) recently.

“Did you (Reddy) conduct any all-party meeting before dividing GHMC? Did you take the views of any political party? Did you discuss in the assembly,” he asked in a release.

He alleged that the Congress government divided the GHMC only to serve the interests of AIMIM.

Upping the ante against the pro rata model of delimitation, CM Reddy on Tuesday asked his southern counterparts to join forces and also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to convene an all-party to deliberate on the issue.

Reddy, who wrote letters to CMs M K Stalin (Tamil Nadu), N Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh), Siddaramaiah (Karnataka), Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala) and N Rangasamy (Puducherry UT), told them that the southern states, despite their substantial contribution to the national economy, will witness a relative erosion of their voice in Parliament if the pro rata model is implemented.