The Telugu Desam Party (TDP)’s floor leader in the Lok Sabha, MP Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, backed the Union government’s proposal to proportionally increase all states’ seats in the lower house by 50%, amid the ongoing debate on the delimitation bills.
His response came amid criticism that a uniform 50% increase in seats, as announced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, is not written into the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026. This would leave a population-based seat distribution, based on the latest Census, as the only process allowed by the Constitution as per Article 81.
However, Krishna Devarayalu said NDA ally TDP would support the three bills to pave the way for delimitation and women’s reservation, based on Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “guarantee”. Andhra Pradesh has 25 seats in the Lok Sabha, out of which the TDP has 16.
His remark came minutes after the YSRCP Lok Sabha Floor Leader PV Midhun Reddy said that an “oral commitment” wasn’t enough, reminding that at the time of bifurcation, Andhra Pradesh was promised Special Category Status orally in the Parliament, which never came to fruition.
Noting that a population-based delimitation and redistribution of seats would be a disadvantage for Andhra Pradesh as well, he said, “The best thing for us is what Home Minister (Amit Shah) proposed yesterday, wherein we are not losing (representation) but gaining 0.6 (percentage points).”
When asked how they were supporting the bills without mention of the 50% increase in seats in the legislation itself, the MP replied, “Yesterday, I heard what the Home Minister has mentioned. The Prime Minister has mentioned. They gave a guarantee in the House. Based on that, we are supporting these bills. TDP is supporting women’s reservation and delimitation,” he said.
In 2018, TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had moved a no-confidence motion to the Lok Sabha after cutting ties with the NDA, all over the Special Category Status denied to the state after verbal assurances in the past. TDP later rejoined the BJP in 2024.
Midhun Reddy said that while his party supports Amit Shah’s proposal for a proportionate increase of all states’ seats by 50%, an oral commitment was not enough, and they must be incorporated into the bill. “We have concerns because a mere oral commitment is not enough. On this very floor of the House during the partition of the state, both the Congress and the BJP promised us Special Category Status for the state. It was an oral promise and it was not kept up,” he said.