NEW DELHI: The AIADMK, Tamil Nadu’s main opposition party, on Sunday criticized the DMK‘s Parliamentary delimitation meeting, calling it a staged drama to mask the ruling party’s failures. The meeting, chaired by chief minister Stalin and attended by Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan and Telangana CM A Revanth Reddy, faced strong opposition from AIADMK spokesperson Kovai Sathyan.
Sathyan pointed out the contradiction in Stalin’s stance on delimitation, highlighting the difference between the invitation letter and DMK’s public position.
“The invitation letter sent out by Stalin states he was not against delimitation, but that the exercise will curtail Tamil Nadu’s number of MPs. On the other hand, inside Tamil Nadu, in every nook and corner DMK is trying to say it loud that delimitation exercise itself is wrong. So which one is true? Stalin doesn’t want delimitation, or if delimitation happens, what is the solution,” said Sathyan.
The AIADMK spokesperson emphasized their party’s position on maintaining Tamil Nadu’s current MP representation.
“We from AIADMK propose that the proportion of 7.18 per cent that Tamil Nadu has right now with respect to MPs should not change which was intentionally omitted by DMK in its resolution that was passed in the all-party meeting called earlier,” he said.
Sathyan accused the DMK of using the delimitation issue to cover up their governance failures.
“So it clearly leaves an impression to everyone in Tamil Nadu that the DMK is desperate to stick on to a narrative of delimitation which they want to carry forward to the 2026 Assembly elections by hiding all their incompetencies and failures of this government which is stinking deep in corruption,” he stated.
Stalin has expressed concerns that population-based delimitation would reduce Lok Sabha seats for south Indian states. Saturday’s meeting urged for a 25-year extension of the freeze on Parliamentary constituencies based on the 1971 Census population.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had previously assured that pro rata delimitation would not impact south Indian states.
The law and order situation in the state was also criticized as being in disarray.