Stalin to chair meet on delimitation, to step up pressure over Centre

Chennai, Mar 4 (PTI) Seeking to up the ante on delimitation of Lok Sabha seats, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin will chair an all-party meeting here on Wednesday, which is likely to take on the Centre over the issue.

For the DMK regime, which has been at loggerheads with the BJP-led NDA Centre over several issues including non-release of education funds by the union government, the proposed delimitation exercise has become a fresh point of contention.

Opposition to National Education Policy, NEET, alleged Hindi imposition are among the other issues in which the DMK is targeting the BJP-led Centre.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had accused Stalin of spreading “misinformation,” over the delimitation issue and assured that southern states that they will not lose a “single Parliamentary seat” due to delimitation.

BJP state president K Annamalai said Stalin was trying to “shift the narrative” with the “imaginary fear” regarding delimitation as people of the state had rejected his argument on the three-language policy.

However, the issue did not end there and Stalin favoured young people having children immediately following marriage and he said a higher population appeared to be the criterion to get more MPs.

The main opposition AIADMK and almost all key state parties including the allies of the ruling DMK would take part in the meet.

However, BJP, Tamil nationalist Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) and former Union Minister GK Vasan-led Tamil Manila Congress (Moopanar) have already declared they will skip the meeting.

The BJP will also launch a signature campaign on the 3-language policy on March 5, even as Stalin had declared the state was ready for another “language war.”

The “language war” refers to the DMK’s anti-Hindi agitation in 1965, when the Dravidian party successfully campaigned against the alleged imposition of the language on the Tamil people.

The Stalin-led government has been consistent in highlighting its opposition to the Centre over many issues and CM targeted the union government on Katchatheevu issue too.

Stalin urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take steps to sign a new agreement with Sri Lanka to facilitate fishing by the state’s fishermen near Katchatheevu.

Against this background, the delimitation exercise, which is expected to be carried out on the basis of Census after 2026, will provide enough political ammunition ahead of the Assembly election due in March-April 2026.