In the Constituent Assembly, the rights of the states were mostly defended by K. Santhanam, a member from Madras. He emphasised the need to strengthen the states.

(i) K. Santhanam was opposed to the centre being vested with more powers. He felt that an over-burdened centre would not be able to fulfil its responsibilities in an effective manner. The centre would become really strong if all the states are made stronger. He advocated that centre should be given less powers and states should be given more powers.

(ii) K. Santhanam was not happy with the proposed allocation of powers between the centre and the states. He felt that such a distribution of power would cripple the states.