Defeat of delimitation Bill is south India’s loss: Nara Lokesh

Andhra Pradesh’s 42-year-old Minister for IT, Human Resource Development and Real Time Governance, who is widely seen as the party’s future face, says giving voice to the youth has become critical to politics. He shares his views on the special intensive revision, economy, and talks about the lessons he learnt from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in a wide-ranging conversation at The Hindu MIND event, moderated by Nistula Hebbar. In an interview with The Hindu, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had expressed apprehension over Andhra Pradesh’s financial situation, which he said went beyond the special category status demand. Two years on, how do you view the situation? We inherited a State with a lot of debt. The previous administration couldn’t even pay salaries on time. The entire economic engine had stalled. We have been able to restart that and restore investor confidence. Nearly 25% of India’s investments have come to our State. That’s what is setting us apart, and that’s how we have been able to record growth in our tax collection. But that’s not enough. We are well on our way to executing all the projects we have signed. We have covered some of your social media exchanges with Industry Ministers from other southern States over competition for investments. Do such things come in the way of a broader solidarity on issues such as delimitation? Competition is good. I think States should compete; only then will India win. The speed of doing business is one of our poll promises, and we are delivering on it. That’s why we received investments from Google, ArcelorMittal, and Royal Enfield, as well as for the AMCA (advanced medium combat aircraft) programme. Every State gets investments as per its strategy, so I don’t see any bitterness there. On the question of issue-based discussion, I think fundamentally it’s very unfair to create this north-south divide. In our conversations in the NDA (Democratic Alliance), we never had the sense that there would be injustice to the South. Based on our conversations, it was very clear that proportional representation would be maintained. But it was not spelt out in the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026. I agree. But the Home Minister [Amit Shah] made it very clear on the floor of the House that if required, an amendment could be brought in. But politics drove the whole debate. There’s a larger issue at play. What the other political parties have actually done is a grave injustice to the South, because if you look at Article 81 [which governs the composition and structure of the Lok Sabha], it clearly stipulates that the number of Lok Sabha seats of States will be proportional to their population. Due to the defeat of the Bill, which was based on the last [2011] Census, the States’ representation in the Lower House will now be based on the next Census, which would place the South at a disadvantage. Tamil Nadu and Kerala will lose about seven seats, Andhra Pradesh will lose about three, and Telangana will lose one. So it is imperative that we actually get a delimitation Bill and amend that. Your government has announced incentives and urged people to have more than three children. Empirically, such measures to boost population have not worked in other countries. Andhra Pradesh today has a Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 1.5, below the replacement rate of 2.1. We are not mandating that families should have more children, but pointing out that it’s important to have this conversation. We feel it is the right approach to create a mechanism that supports families that choose to have more children. So as the Chief Minister has already announced, at birth, there’s a direct benefit transfer (DBT) programme, and already in Andhra Pradesh, from Classes 1 to 12, for the number of children that you have, there’s already a functional DBT scheme. That was our marquee promise before the 2024 election. We believe the TFR will continue to decline before it gets any better. Therefore, I think it’s important to have this debate. As far as delimitation is concerned, we are very clear that whatever the South’s current proportion is, it will be maintained. Have there been conversations between the TDP and its allies after the special session of Parliament? Absolutely. Before, during, and after the session. When the Bill was introduced, as I said, I did share my fair share of note-taking and shared my opinions as a member of the NDA, where we debate and discuss within the four walls of the alliance. You, a millennial, have now formally stepped into the role as the TDP’s working president at a time when India has probably seen its first Gen Z poll in Tamil Nadu. Do you agree with the characterisation, and what changes do you foresee in India’s politics when it comes to the youth? Fundamentally, political parties have to transform themselves. While our ideology remains the same, in terms of representation and giving voice, incorporating the youth of the State will be critical to the poli