21 MPs oppose TN delimitation, 36 skip all party meet

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay on Saturday called an all party meeting to discuss the issue of delimitation. Major regional parties DMK, AIADMK and PMK stayed away from the meeting. The meeting, held at Kalaivanar Arangam,in Chennai, brought together around 21 lawmakers from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, drawn mainly from the Congress, VCK, CPI, CPI(M), MDMK and IUML. Tamil Nadu has  57 MPs. The leaders present were unanimous that any population-based redrawing of constituencies which reduces Tamil Nadu’s political weight would be strongly opposed. State Congress president and MP Manickam Tagore says, "He said the same thing. He made it very clear, even before the election in April, that his party and its leadership stand with Tamil Nadu and are opposed to delimitation. Delimitation would be unfair to Tamil Nadu, and he is very clear that such an unfair delimitation should not be accepted."

Chennai, Tamil Nadu: On MP's meeting with CM, State Congress president and MP Manickam Tagore says, "He said the same thing. He made it very clear, even before the election in April, that his party and its leadership stand with Tamil Nadu and are opposed to delimitation.… pic.twitter.com/8TN7O7qk0e

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Chief Minister Vijay said the state’s parliamentary representation must remain completely untouched, asserting that the state's place in the Parliament must be preserved.The participating leaders unanimously agreed to strongly oppose any population-based redrawing of constituencies that could diminish Tamil Nadu’s political representation.
The absence of the DMK and AIADMK drew criticism from Congress MP Praveen Chakraborty, who questioned the parties’ decision to skip the meeting despite their long-standing role in state politics. "It was very disappointing that the party that governed the state for 6 terms and the party that governed the state for 5 terms did not participate in a meeting called by the chief minister to defend the rights and freedom of the people of Tamil Nadu," he said.