WARANGAL: Coming down heavily on the Centre for the alleged “dictatorial attitude” towards the two Telugu States, Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao demanded that the Union government initiate the delimitation of Assembly seats in Telangana before the 2023 Assembly polls.
Speaking to the media in Hanamkonda on Wednesday, Dayakar Rao wondered as to why the Central government was not following the same rules for Jammu and Kashmir and the two Telugu States. “While the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs clearly stated that as per Article 170 of the Constitution, the Union government will take up delimitation of Assembly seats in AP and Telangana, while taking into consideration Article 170(3) as well, only after the first Census is published post the year 2026, why is the Centre going forward with the same process in J&K now,” he asked.
According to Section 26(1) of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, “subject to the provisions contained in Article 170 of the Constitution and without prejudice to Section 15 of this Act, the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of the successor states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana shall be increased from 175 and 119 to 225 and 153, respectively”.
Pointing out that the Union government merged seven mandals from Khammam district, Telangana, with Andhra Pradesh by violating AP Reorganisation Act of 2014, Dayakar Rao asked as to how the Centre picked the MLC seats without the concern of the two Telugu States.
Meanwhile, the Minister recalled that he had previously introduced a private member bill in the Parliament seeking enhancement of seats in the Assembly. The Minister also pointed out that B Vinod Kumar, along with MP K Keshav Rao, had met the then Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and officials of Law Ministry, who, back then, confirmed that increasing the number of seats was possible.