TN CM Vijay’s delimitation meet boycotted by DMK, AIADMK

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay chaired a meeting of MPs on the Centre’s proposed delimitation exercise on Saturday, but the DMK and AIADMK boycotted it. The opposition parties called the meeting a “farce” and “drama”, questioning its necessity

Chennai: Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Saturday chaired a meeting of Tamil Nadu MPs on the Centre’s proposed delimitation and it was boycotted by the DMK and the AIADMK which dubbed the deliberations a “farce” and a “drama”. Vijay led the discussions on the proposal of the Centre to carry out delimitation and its likely impact on the state. MPs belonging to ruling TVK’s alliance parties, the Congress, VCK, MDMK and IUML, and friendly parties, the CPI and CPI(M), took part in the meeting. In total, 19 MPs participated.

Eleven Congress MPs, two MPs each from CPI, CPI(M) and the VCK; one MP each from the MDMK and IUML took part. DMK’s alliance parties, MNM and DMDK, which have one RS MP each, did not take part.

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AIADMK, which has four MPs in the Upper House and its ally the PMK, which has one MP, also in the RS, did not participate. The DMK has 22 Lok Sabha and 8 Rajya Sabha MPs. Congress veteran leader P Chidambaram, VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan were among the participants.

Marxist party’s Su Venkatesan, MDMK’s Durai Vaiko, the Congress party’s Jothimani were among others who participated. Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary M Sai Kumar had sent separate invitations to the MPs on August 6 and 7, government sources said.

The meeting was held at Kalaivanar Arangam, a government-owned auditorium here near the Secretariat. Senior DMK leader A Raja told reporters at Perambalur that it was “a farce, a laughable exercise” since the TVK regime was deliberating about something that it was not aware. “Is it fair?, he asked.

The AIADMK dubbed the meeting a “hurriedly staged drama,” as no new delimitation bill has been introduced in Parliament and also because there is no official announcement regarding it.

Against this background, the AIADMK asked, “Why is the chief minister hurriedly staging a drama in the name of an MP’s meeting? After ignoring the demand of all the opposition parties to hold an all-party meeting to address the Cauvery-Mekedatu issue “happening right before our eyes,” why is the CM holding a meeting for a Bill that has not even been introduced, the AIADMK asked in a statement.

To this day, the Mettur Dam has not been opened. There is no water in the delta districts. “Without answering the tears of farmers, this government’s diversionary political drama will never be supported,” the AIADMK said.

A DMK party MP told PTI that inviting MPs is a flawed move and the government must have invited the top leaders of the party. “The MPs have a mandate to follow the party line. This meeting is unnecessary. DMK is fully committed to protecting Tamil Nadu’s interests and our party chief M K Stalin is the first to raise his voice against delimitation and he has spoken and fought against it in order to protect the interests of Tamil Nadu,” he said.