Rijiju tells Kharge the Congress never gave dates for delimitation talks

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday hit back at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s demand for an all-party meeting on delimitation, saying the government had reached out to the Congress repeatedly and moved on to other parties only after it failed to respond.

In a letter to Kharge, Rijiju said the government had “reached out to the Congress, being the principal Opposition party, on several occasions”. He listed letters to Kharge dated 16 March, 26 March and 12 April, as well as personal conversations, and said he had also met Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, during the Monsoon Session.

“After repeated requests, the Congress Party didn’t give dates for discussion,” Rijiju wrote. “Consultations were held with representatives of parties including the DMK, SP, YSRCP, NCP, Shiv Sena (UBT), AIMIM and BJD.”

A reply to Kharge’s letter to Modi

The letter answers one Kharge sent Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 16 October, asking him to call an all-party meeting before any delimitation amendment returns to Parliament. It was not his first: Kharge has written to the Prime Minister several times this year on the subject, warning in August against using a special session to push the bill through.

Rijiju questioned why the request kept coming back. “It is not clear why the demand for consultation is being made repeatedly,” he wrote, adding: “We value the participation of all political parties in deliberations and discussions on all matters of national importance.”

He ended with a pointed line: “I also hope that the Congress Party will play a constructive role and will not obstruct important future legislation.”

The prorogation argument

Kharge had also objected that Parliament has not been prorogued since the House was adjourned sine die on 13 August, more than two months ago. A House that is adjourned but not prorogued can be recalled at short notice, which has fed talk of a special session.

Rijiju said there was “no constitutional requirement prescribing a specific period” for prorogation. He cited earlier years in which Houses stayed unprorogued for long stretches, including 76 days in 1987 and 54 days in 1989. In 2008, he noted, the Lok Sabha sat on 21 and 22 July, met again on 17 October and once more on 10 December without being prorogued in between.

The government has not announced a session.

Why the numbers matter

The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which would have expanded the Lok Sabha to 850 seats to put women’s reservation into effect, was introduced on 16 April and defeated the next day. It was the Modi government’s first defeat on a constitutional amendment, which needs a two-thirds majority of members present and voting.

Several of the parties Rijiju named have been sharply critical of the Election Commission in recent days. On Sunday, YSR Congress Party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy said his party had been wrong to back the 2023 law on appointing election commissioners. “We regret committing that mistake,” he said. The DMK, which has left the INDIA bloc, on Saturday demanded the Chief Election Commissioner’s resignation and said it “will not align with the BJP just because we walked out of the INDIA bloc”.

The Congress had not replied to Rijiju’s letter by early Tuesday.