New Delhi: Congress president and leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday (August 27) wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that the Union government should not try to attempt to “again try and bulldoze” a Bill on Delimitation as it had done by bringing a special session in April.Kharge’s letter to Modi comes a day after Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju in an interview to television channel India Today did not rule out that a special session could be called. Kharge said that Rijiju’s remarks perhaps explain why the monsoon session has not yet been prorogued despite it ending earlier.The Congress president had last written to the prime minister on July 16, urging that an all-party meeting be convened to discuss the government’s proposals for delimitation, and all political parties be given adequate time to study them before any special session is called.“Before you go ahead as indicated by the Union minister of parliamentary affairs, I wish to reiterate my earlier request to you to convene an all-party meeting to discuss whatever delimitation proposals you have in mind. Give all political parties and state governments adequate time to study such proposals,” he wrote.“This is an issue that has enormous significance for the country. Please do not again try and bulldoze as you attempted on April 16, 17, 2026,” Kharge added.On April 17, the Modi government, for the first time in 12 years failed to get a constitutional amendment Bill passed after a united opposition defeated the proposed legislation that sought to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha to 850 seats to “operationalise” women’s reservation.In his letter on Thursday, Kharge said that Rijiju’s remarks on Wednesday in the television interview “perhaps explains the continued delay in the prorogation of the monsoon session itself.”He said that the Congress’ stand on delimitation is clear, that the existing strength of the Lok Sabha at 543 should continue for another 25 years, the existing state-wise strength in the Lok Sabha should also continue, while one-third reservation for women should be introduced from the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.While there was speculation that the government, on the back of a series of defections in the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would attempt to reintroduce the delimitation Bill in the monsoon session, the session saw the government on the back foot with pressure from the opposition demanding answers for the police action on protesters on July 20. The session ended with the government not bringing any of its contentious Bills, and former Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan being forced to resign under sustained public pressure as both Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah remained absent through the session.