Delimitation row: Jagan misses Chennai meet, asks PM to address south’s apprehensions

YSR Congress party chief and former Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the delimitation exercise that is to be undertaken in the near future be done in such a way that no state suffers a loss in its representation in the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha.

National Democratic Alliance

Jagan avoided attending the all-party meeting called by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president and Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin in Chennai to address the delimitation matter. Tamil Nadu Public Works Department minister EV Velu and Rajya Sabha member P Wilson on March 12 met Jagan and extended an invitation to the all-party meeting on behalf of Stalin. Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena Party president and deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan too stayed away from the Chennai meet, being allies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Bharatiya Janata Party

While the YSRCP has never been in the NDA, Jagan wanted to avoid the all-party meet in Chennai since he does not want to enrage the BJP national leadership at this time and would rather remain equi-distant from the BJP and the Congress," said a YSRCP leader who spoke anonymously. But a party statement issued that YSRCP leader of the parliament party YV Subba Reddy forwarded a copy of Jagan's letter to Modi and DMK party leaders, intimating that what is required here is a just and balanced line of approach to delimitation.In his letter to PM, Jagan wrote that news of the Centre adopting 2026 census for delimitation of parliamentary constituencies has created utmost anxiety for a number of states, especially southern states, as they worry their representation will be undercut