Tamil Nadu BJP President K. Annamalai announced on Saturday that his party will not participate in the all-party meeting scheduled for March 5 regarding the delimitation exercise. He accused Chief Minister M.K. Stalin of trying to instill “imaginary fears” surrounding the issue.
In a letter addressed to Stalin, Annamalai expressed his concern that the Chief Minister had misunderstood the purpose of the delimitation exercise and was using the meeting to propagate unfounded fears and misinformation, even before any official announcements were made.
Annamalai referenced a statement from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who assured that no state would be “undermined” and that the delimitation process would be conducted on a pro-rata basis. He advised Stalin to wait for the delimitation commission’s official announcement and criticized him for not learning from past instances when his earlier claims about the one nation, one election initiative were proven false.
He also pointed out that the INDIA bloc’s campaign slogan of “Jitne Abadhi Utni Haq” (Rights proportional to population) contradicts Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s position, who suggested that such a policy may negatively impact southern states that have successfully implemented population control measures.
Annamalai questioned why the DMK did not raise these supposed fears in the Lok Sabha during the recent budget session. He challenged Stalin’s assertion that the number of Lok Sabha seats could increase to 848 and requested the basis for this figure, suggesting it may be based on confidential documents that should be made public for transparency.
He criticized the tendency to speculate about the number of seats without confirmation, pointing out that recent discussions in media have varied widely from a potential increase to 753 seats to even claims of reaching 900. He urged Stalin to ensure accuracy and validity in public statements rather than spreading rumors.
On behalf of the Tamil Nadu BJP, Annamalai stated that the party believes Stalin is misleading the public regarding the delimitation process and that this unfounded anxiety prompted their decision to withdraw from the March 5 meeting. He also announced that the BJP would launch its signature campaign supporting the three-language policy on the same day.
