The failure of 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill seeking delimitation of parliamentary constituencies coupled with women’s reservation in the elected bodies in Lok Sabha on Friday has brought CM Chandrababu Naidu, YSRCP president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and Jana Sena Party chief-deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan together on the same page.
All the three leaders have sounded more or less similar in faulting the opposition for undermining federal balance and women’s representation.
Through separate posts on the social media platform X, they framed the bill’s defeat as a setback not just for governance reforms but also for equitable political representation.
Naidu, a key NDA ally, described the opposition’s move as a “great disservice to the nation,” warning that the end of the freeze under Article 81 after the post-2026 Census could significantly alter parliamentary representation.
He argued that southern, northeastern, and smaller states risk losing seats due to population-based redistribution, despite better performance on development indicators.
“The proposal aimed to preserve federal balance and ensure fair representation,” Naidu said, adding that political considerations had overridden long-term national interest.
Echoing a similar concern, Jagan Mohan Reddy underscored the demographic disadvantage faced by southern states.
He pointed out that with delimitation tied to population, states that successfully implemented family planning policies could be “penalised” with reduced parliamentary representation.
He also criticised the delay in implementing women’s reservation, stating that the outcome had delivered “justice neither to the south nor to women.”
Jagan warned that the situation could worsen after the 2026 Census, reinforcing concerns about structural imbalance in representation.
Pawan Kalyan, who is also a political ally of the BJP, termed the bill’s blockage a “deliberate” attempt by the opposition to stall transformative reforms.
He emphasised that the Women’s Reservation Bill, which sought to ensure 33% representation for women in legislatures, was a “long-overdue step” toward inclusive governance.
Kalyan also lauded the leadership of Narendra Modi for introducing the legislation, asserting that its passage would have marked a “defining moment” in India’s democratic evolution.
While one can understand Naidu and Pawan taking a similar line in attacking the Congress and the other opposition parties in the country, it is interesting to see Jagan also joining them.
“This clearly shows that all the three leaders, true to their abbreviated names – Babu, Jagan and Pawan (BJP), have proved that they are no different form BJP and they blindly back the BJP for their political gains,” an analyst said.
