‘Govt's delimitation to have grave consequences’

metro india news  I new delhi

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said the Modi government's proposed delimitation exercise to implement the women's quota law would have "grave consequences" and warrants thorough deliberation, asserting that his party would formulate a collective strategy with others in the opposition to move forward "unitedly" on this issue.

Kharge said the Modi government is convening the sitting of Parliament from April 16 with the sole intention of securing political advantage, which is a "violation" of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), and is keen to pass the Constitutional Amendment Bill in "utmost haste".

Addressing a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) here, he said the proposed amendments are of such a nature that they can potentially have a profound impact on the country's electoral system.

The Congress has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using the proposal to amend the women's quota law for its early implementation as a poll issue.

The opposition party alleged last week that the government had called a "special session" of Parliament to pass bills related to amending the women's quota law and delimitation to "grab political mileage" in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu polls, which, it claimed, was a "gross violation" of the model code of conduct.

"Therefore, following this meeting, we will formulate a collective strategy by holding discussions on these issues with our colleagues in the opposition as well. We will move forward unitedly," Kharge asserted.

The meeting, chaired by Kharge, was attended by former party chief Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K C Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh and Sachin Pilot, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, among others.