Union home minister Amit Shah has criticized the DMK and Congress for their opposition to a constitution amendment bill that aimed to expand the Lok Sabha and implement a 33% reservation for women. Shah claimed that the two parties had conspired to reduce Tamil Nadu's seats in Parliament and deprive women of a quota for their 'narrow political ends.'
Shah made these remarks during a roadshow in Erode district, Tamil Nadu, in support of his party's candidate for the upcoming assembly polls. He accused the DMK of practicing 'dynastic politics' and said that the state had never benefited from such a system of family rule.
The 131st constitution amendment bill was defeated by a united Opposition, which had raised concerns that the government was trying to use the women's reservation as a ruse for carrying out delimitation without considering the ongoing census. Shah had offered to incorporate a 50% proportional rise for all states into the bill, but the Opposition remained unswayed.
