New Delhi: The Congress on Friday said that the special session of Parliament to be held on April 16, 17 and 18 was a clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct and its only aim is to influence the outcome of the Assembly elections in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, scheduled to be held later this month.
The Congress also cautioned against any haste in amending the Constitution regarding the delimitation of parliamentary and assembly constituencies, saying it is a sensitive matter and the government must tread carefully, otherwise the hasty amendment might put several states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala at a significant disadvantage.
Addressing a press conference here, party general secretary amd communications in charge Jairam Ramesh said that the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju had written to Congress president and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, saying the government wanted to hold discussions with the Congress party regarding amendments related to the Women’s Reservation Bill.
Ramesh said Kharge on same day March 16 wrote back to Rijiju, suggesting that instead of meeting individual parties separately, the government should call an all-party meeting after April 29, once the electoral process in five states is completed.
He said that on March 24, all opposition parties unanimously asked the government to convene such a meeting after April 29, as most parties would be occupied with the Assembly election campaigns until then.
Ramesh added that Rijiju again wrote to Kharge on March 26 reiterating that the government wanted to hold discussions with the Congress to take forward the proposed constitution amendment.
Ramesh also said that to this Kharge again replied urging the government to convene an all-party meeting instead of holding a separate meeting with the Congress.
The Congress leader said, despite such clarity from the opposition, the government arbitrarily and unilaterally went ahead with the decision of convening the special session on April 16, 17 and 18, when electioneering in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal would be at its peak.
He pointed out, the Women’s Reservation Bill had been passed way back in 2023 and even at that time, the Congress president had demanded that it must be implemented from the 2024 General Elections. “Like the claims of a double engine government, the BJP now wants to take double advantage of women’s reservation”, he claimed.
Ramesh said, the government has now woken up after nearly 30 months and proposed to implement the women reservation from the 2029 General Elections.
He said, while the party welcomes it, at the same time, and further charged that heavens would not have fallen if the government had waited for 15 days more and consulted all opposition parties and convened the session afterwards, as it was the unanimous demand of the entire opposition.
He also disputed the government’s timeline, citing statements that Census data could be available by 2027.
Ramesh further noted that while Rijiju in his letters only talked about the Women’s Reservation issue.
“There are reports that the special session may also take up delimitation of Parliamentary and assembly constituencies across the country,” he said.
He said, although there is no formal proposal from the government regarding delimitation, the party has learnt informally that there is a proposal to amend Article 81 and 82 of the Constitution as well.
He said there are reports that the government might propose increasing both parliamentary and assembly seats proportionately by 50 percent.
He said, the southern states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and North Western States like Punjab will be at a great disadvantage, as they will suffer huge numerical losses in terms of seats in the parliament.
He also said that while it is proposed to increase 50 percent seats proportionately, actually it will come to much more.
Citing the example of UP and Kerala, he said, the number of parliamentary seats in UP will go up to 120 from 80, while in Kerala it will go up to 30 from 20. The earlier difference of 60 seats will now be 90 seats, he pointed out.
“If delimitation is also in mind, there should be no haste and it must not be bulldozed,” Ramesh said while noting that so many states will suffer huge losses.
He said that the Congress President will hold meetings with the party MPs and then the opposition parties to form a joint strategy. “The entire opposition is together”, he made it clear, adding that the BJP’s design to divide and rule will not succeed.
He reiterated that the only purpose of the special session is to get benefit in the election by influencing the electorate in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. “This is an Electoral Session,” he added.
