New Delhi, Oct 20 (IANS) Congress General Secretary and Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday raised three pointed questions for Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju over the central government’s position on delimitation, questioning whether it has prepared a fresh proposal and why it continues to resist the Opposition’s demand for an all-party meeting.
The development came after Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, wrote his fourth letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 16, seeking an immediate all-party meeting before any delimitation proposals are finalised.
Rijiju responded to Kharge on behalf of the government, rejecting the allegation that the Opposition had been ignored. He claimed he had reached out to the Congress on multiple occasions in March and April 2026, but the party failed to provide dates for discussions.
The Minister said the government had subsequently sought to build consensus by consulting other parties, including the DMK, Samajwadi Party and the Shiv Sena (UBT).
Taking to X, Ramesh said, “The Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge ji, had written to the PM on Oct 16, 2026 on Delimitation. Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju replied to this letter yesterday.”
Referring to Rijiju’s response, the Congress leader said the Minister had cited the Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s “selective consultations” with certain political parties on delimitation in March 2026.
However, Ramesh alleged that Rijiju’s reply failed to mention commitments that the Home Minister had apparently made during those discussions, which were not included in the Constitution Amendment Bill subsequently taken up in the Lok Sabha on April 16, 2026.
“The Bill was deservedly and decisively defeated in the Lok Sabha on April 17, 2026. Most of the parties that were consulted (according to Kiren Rijiju) had voted AGAINST the Bill,” Ramesh said.
Arguing that the government needed to clarify its position rather than rely on its account of the earlier consultations, the Congress MP said Rijiju should now respond to three specific questions concerning the way forward on delimitation.
“Does the Modi Govt have a firm NEW proposal for delimitation that it has discussed with any party?” Ramesh asked.
Secondly, he questioned why the government was refusing to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the “NEW proposal” collectively and in a transparent manner.
Ramesh added that the demand for such a meeting had been consistently raised by opposition parties through Kharge, who had communicated it “not once or twice but six times in writing — four times to the PM and twice to Kiren Rijiju himself”.
The Congress leader’s third question was whether the government intended to revive the Constitution Amendment Bill that had already been defeated in the Lok Sabha and make another attempt to secure its passage.
“Is it the Modi Govt’s intention to bring back the defeated Bill and make another attempt to get it passed with a super-tainted two-thirds majority, that will no doubt fail again?” Ramesh questioned.
–IANS
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