Leader of opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin flagged the issue, citing Vijay’s statement at the SZC meet chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah.
Nehru targeted the Congress while responding to tourism minister Rajeshkumar. Citing Congress senior leader K C Venugopal’s statement in Parliament in favour of fair delimitation, Nehru questioned the party’s position and accused it of taking different stands on federal representation in Parliament and the state Assembly.
The TVK maintained that Tamil Nadu’s 39 Lok Sabha seats must retain their present 7.18% share of parliamentary representation. Chief minister C Joseph Vijay’s delimitation stand triggered a political storm in the Tamil Nadu assembly on Friday, with the opposition questioning why his Southern Zonal Council speech did not reiterate the state’s demand to freeze Lok Sabha seats at 543. TVK insisted that Tamil Nadu’s 39 seats should retain their present 7.18% share of parliamentary representation. Leading the govt’s response, PWD minister Aadhav Arjuna said the state remained committed to freezing the total number of Lok Sabha seats at 543 for another 25 years through special legislation. He said, “I made the govt’s stand clear that we are against delimitation and want to maintain the existing Lok Sabha strength at 543. If there was any change, Tamil Nadu’s 7.18% share of parliamentary representation should not fall, he said.
CHENNAI: A nearly 40-minute high-voltage exchange over delimitation kept the Tamil Nadu assembly on the edge on Friday, with the opposition putting chief minister C Joseph Vijay’s stand under the scanner and questioning whether the govt had moved from “no delimitation” to “fair delimitation”. He pointed to the assembly resolution passed on Aug 12, which sought to freeze the total number of Lok Sabha seats at 543, and questioned why the “demand was not mentioned anywhere” in the chief minister’s speech. He said the govt had clarified its position several times and dismissed reports suggesting otherwise as misleading. Udhayanidhi said DMK was firm on maintaining the present number of Lok Sabha seats.
Leader of opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin flagged the issue, citing Vijay’s statement at Union home minister Amit Shah chaired SZC meet. He cited extensions made during the Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee govts. Law minister R Nirmalkumar echoed the stand.