NEW DELHI: In a likely breakthrough in govt’s attempts to muster a two-thirds majority in Parliament to pass the Constitution amendment bill to increase seats in Lok Sabha and implement women’s reservation law from 2029, DMK, which has 22 members in Lok Sabha, said it is open to negotiation if govt can guarantee that the interests of Tamil Nadu and other southern states will not be compromised due to delimitation and if the respective share of states are spelt out in advance.“Govt should explain the concrete share of each state to rule out any possibility of the southern states losing out and that can be the basis for talks,” a senior DMK functionary told TOI. “No formal consultation with govt has happened yet. We had conveyed even last time that we can reconsider if there is an ironclad guarantee there will be no discrimination,” the functionary said.DMK’s willingness to reconsider its stand may potentially turn out to be a boost for govt’s efforts to secure the passage of the Constitution amendment bill.
Signals from DMK and NCP-SP on the Constitution amendment bill, which will increase seats in Lok Sabha and implement women’s reservation law from 2029, suggest that political momentum is building up in govt’s favour. This comes on the back of the disintegration of Trinamool Congress after BJP trounced it in West Bengal elections, and the split in Sena UBT.During the debate over the two bills in the last session, the govt had unsuccessfully tried to win over DMK by offering to write into the bill the commitment that there would be a 50% increase in the representation of all states in Lok Sabha. The bill had received support of 298 MPs in April, and govt is likely to incorporate changes in its draft to assure fence-sitters, including a declaration in writing of home minister Amit Shah’s oral assertion: seats in every state will go up by 50%.DMK’s willingness to revisit its stand coincides with a similar indication from Sharad Pawar-led NCP, which has eight MPs.Numbers are positively stacked for govt in Rajya Sabha as well.While govt has made no public statements on its intention to bring back the bill, its top functionaries have made it clear they will revive it once they are sure of the numbers.Asked about Congress cautioning DMK on going against the bloc’s decision to vote against the bill in the last session, sources in the Dravidian party accused their former ally of betrayal. “Congress destroyed INDIA bloc. They betrayed DMK by allying with Vijay-led TVK after winning five seats in the assembly polls with our support. They should stop preaching to us,” a source said.While DMK sources caveated their willingness to support a delimitation plan that meets their concerns, they were unambiguous in declaring that the party, unlike in the last session, will not follow Congress’ stand.“Congress should disabuse itself of the notion that they are the custodian of opposition space,” a DMK functionary said.
