CHENNAI: The meeting on delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies convened by DMK govt is a political drama by DMK to divert the attention of people from “corruption, deteriorating law and order situation and burning inter-state issues”, said Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai.
Speaking to reporters during a black flag protest in Chennai on Saturday to condemn the Tamil Nadu govt for holding the delimitation meeting, inviting chief ministers and representatives of states that might be affected by the exercise, Annamalai accused chief minister M K Stalin of ignoring burning issues affecting the state.
He said Karnataka was stubborn about constructing a dam across Cauvery River at Mekedatu and extending the Bengaluru metro to Hosur and Kerala continued to dump its solid waste including medical waste in Tamil Nadu. He came down heavily on Stalin for inviting Karnataka deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar despite growing tension between the two states on the Mekedatu dam issue.
Annamalai maintained that none of the southern states would lose their Lok Sabha seats. The states will retain their seats, and Tamil Nadu will have its rightful share of 7.1%, he said. BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan told reporters that Union home minister Amit Shah, during his recent visit to Coimbatore, had clarified that TN would not lose out on the number of seats.
BJP functionaries across the state held black flag protests across 68,000 booths in the state following a directive from the party. In Coimbatore, BJP state treasurer S R Sekar, who displayed black flags outside his house criticized the state govt for neglecting key issues like Mullaperiyar and Mekedatu disputes. “Instead of addressing these crucial water disputes with neighbouring states, the govt is focusing on constituency delimitation, which is expected to be announced in the future,” he said.
BJP state farmers’ wing president G K Nagaraj protested with black flags in front of his house. BJP state general secretary Karuppu Muruganandham led demonstrations in Trichy at the district headquarters. Muruganandham told reporters that chief minister M K Stalin had “betrayed” people of Tamil Nadu by welcoming Kerala chief minister and the Karnataka deputy chief minister despite unresolved issues with both states. “The DMK govt did not convene a similar meeting for Mekedatu. Similarly, nothing was done regarding Mullaperiyar,” he said.
Former MLC from Telangana and the BJP’s national co-in-charge for Tamil Nadu and Karnataka Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy, who reached Trichy to attend a public meeting on Sunday led by Annamalai, accused the parties participating in the joint action committee meeting of finding ‘commonality in corruption.’
“Stalin called it a historic day for Indian federalism. But it is a historic day for opportunism,” he said. Apart from Trichy, BJP leaders in Karur, Thanjavur, and Pudukottai held similar protests in district offices and in front of their residences.