2 BJD leaders in Chennai to attend delimitation meet | Bhubaneswar News
Bhubaneswar: Former BJD MP Amar Patnaik and ex-minister Sanjay Dasburma reached Chennai on Friday to take part in Saturday’s Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting on delimitation, called by Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin. The two were nominated by BJD president and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik to represent the party at the meeting.
“We will fight to protect Odisha’s rights in the proposed delimitation exercise,” Dasburma told reporters before leaving for Chennai. He expressed concern that states which had controlled population growth might be at a disadvantage if the delimitation is based on current population figures, an issue that has been raised by Stalin.
The move follows a recent meeting between DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran, Tamil Nadu minister TRB Rajaa and Naveen on March 11, where they sought BJD’s support against the Centre’s proposed redistribution of Lok Sabha constituencies.
The BJD’s decision to attend the opposition meeting marks a notable shift in its political stance as the party had consistently supported the Narendra Modi govt’s initiatives since 2014.
BJP criticised BJD’s participation in the meeting. “There is no relevance to such a meeting. BJD is merely trying to stay relevant by switching camps,” said Krushna Chandra Patra, state food supplies minister and a senior BJP leader.
The JAC meeting aims to discuss strategies against the Centre’s move to redraw parliamentary constituency boundaries based on current population data, which many states fear could affect their parliamentary representation.
The opposition parties fear states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra, Telangana, Odisha and Punjab will end up as losers as population growth in these states significantly went down in the past decade compared to other states.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhakta Charan Das has also reached Chennai to attend the Stalin-led meeting.
“We will fight to protect Odisha’s rights in the proposed delimitation exercise,” Dasburma told reporters before leaving for Chennai. He expressed concern that states which had controlled population growth might be at a disadvantage if the delimitation is based on current population figures, an issue that has been raised by Stalin.
The move follows a recent meeting between DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran, Tamil Nadu minister TRB Rajaa and Naveen on March 11, where they sought BJD’s support against the Centre’s proposed redistribution of Lok Sabha constituencies.
The BJD’s decision to attend the opposition meeting marks a notable shift in its political stance as the party had consistently supported the Narendra Modi govt’s initiatives since 2014.
BJP criticised BJD’s participation in the meeting. “There is no relevance to such a meeting. BJD is merely trying to stay relevant by switching camps,” said Krushna Chandra Patra, state food supplies minister and a senior BJP leader.
The JAC meeting aims to discuss strategies against the Centre’s move to redraw parliamentary constituency boundaries based on current population data, which many states fear could affect their parliamentary representation.
The opposition parties fear states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra, Telangana, Odisha and Punjab will end up as losers as population growth in these states significantly went down in the past decade compared to other states.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhakta Charan Das has also reached Chennai to attend the Stalin-led meeting.
