ONOE will systematically damage democracy: Revanth Reddy

“One party, one person is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's real agenda and not 'one party one election'. The Centre is slowly trying to take control of states' rights,” Revanth Reddy said, even as he highlighted fears of the better-performing southern states of being shortchanged during the forthcoming delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies.

Speaking at an event in Thiruvananthapuram, the Chief Minister expressed the fear that southern states would be left with fewer Lok Sabha states after delimitation, and suggested a formula of increasing their number of Lok Sabha seats.

On the ONOE proposal, the Chief Minister said that Modi and the BJP-led NDA government were trying to take everything under their control. “This is posing a major threat to democracy,” he said.

“If the delimitation of constituencies is based on population, the BJP will be able to form government at the Centre with the seats they win in the Bimaru states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. There will be no need to depend on the southern states. This trend will completely destroy the democratic spirit," Revanth Reddy said.

He asked whether the southern states were being punished for implementing welfare programmes, including family planning, better in comparison to the northern states.

He said that state elections were more about local issues, which were being dealt with locally. All states should oppose the ONOE move, he urged.

The Chief Minister further stated that Modi wanted to take the control of the states and convert them into local bodies. “Look at the changes being brought in in the education sector. In the coming days, the Centre itself will appoint vice chancellors of our state-run universities. They want to appoint vice chancellors to universities which are related to our culture. This is an attack on our culture," Revanth Reddy said.

“The Centre is trying to take back the powers of the state which provide budgetary allocation for universities in states. They want to bring everything under the Centre's control,” he said, adding that intellectuals should protest against it.

The Chief Minister hoped that the southern states would join hands to protect the guarantees provided by the Constitution. “It is the right time that people of the southern states unite,” he said.

In a reply to a query, Revanth Reddy found fault with the CPM government's welfare programmes in Kerala. He said the Kerala government must be focused on getting investments to develop the state.
On the Delhi Assembly elections outcome, the Chief Minister stated that the Congress had formed the I.N.D.I.A bloc but “everyone wants everything.”

“Let us analyse the Delhi and Haryana elections. Kejriwal created trouble for the Congress in Haryana. In Delhi, Congress fought against Kejriwal. Ultimately, the BJP benefited,” he said.
On the poor performance of the Congress, Revanth Reddy said the people were polarised between “position and opposition.”

It was between AAP who held power and the BJP in Delhi and the 'anti-Kejriwal' section voted for candidates who had better chances of victory, he said.

With regard to Telangana, Revanth Reddy said: “The people's mindset is clear. The fight was between the BRS and Congress and we won,” he said.