Chennai, Aug 1 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday launched a sharp attack on Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over his remarks on the proposed delimitation exercise, accusing the Congress leader of attempting to create divisions and spread apprehension among the people of Tamil Nadu.
BJP spokesperson Narayanan Tirupati, responding to LoP Rahul Gandhi’s statement that anyone supporting delimitation would be “betraying Tamil Nadu”, questioned the basis for the allegations and said the BJP had already clarified that the exercise would not adversely affect any State.
“How does he know how the delimitation is designed?” Tirupati asked, arguing that concerns being raised over the exercise were premature. He said demands had been made for proportionate delimitation, while maintaining that the BJP had made its position clear that no State would be unfairly affected.
Tirupati accused LoP Rahul Gandhi of attempting to create divisions based on religion and caste and alleged that his statements were damaging the country’s social fabric. He also described him as “anti-national” and accused him of seeking to destabilise the country.
The BJP spokesperson alleged that LoP Rahul Gandhi had been frustrated by the Congress remaining out of power at the Centre for more than 12 years and claimed that the party was therefore resorting to confrontational politics. Tirupati further accused him of “joining hands with anarchists, evil forces and anti-national forces” and alleged that he was aligning himself with external forces.
He said LoP Rahul Gandhi, despite holding the constitutional position of Leader of Opposition, was behaving like “a leader against the nation”.
The BJP leader’s remarks came after LoP Rahul Gandhi, during his visit to Tamil Nadu on Saturday, strongly criticised the proposed delimitation exercise and alleged that it was designed to reduce the political representation and influence of Tamil Nadu. He urged political parties, both regional and national, to oppose any delimitation proposal that could adversely affect the State’s representation in Parliament.
He alleged that supporting such a move would amount to betraying the interests of Tamil Nadu and its people.
The exchange has intensified the political debate over delimitation, an issue that has generated concern in several southern States over the possibility that population-based redistribution of parliamentary constituencies could alter their relative representation in the Lok Sabha.
–IANS
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