Chennai (Tamil Nadu), March 1: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced that it will boycott the all-party meeting called by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on March 5, which is set to discuss the potential impact of the proposed delimitation exercise on the state.
In a letter addressed to CM Stalin, BJP’s state president K Annamalai accused the Chief Minister of spreading "misconceptions" about the delimitation process and claimed that the meeting was intended to fuel "imaginary fears."
Annamalai expressed his concerns, stating, "We must address the misconceptions presented in your invitation letter. It is clear that you have misunderstood the purpose of the delimitation exercise, and your convening of this all-party meeting is an attempt to create unnecessary panic and spread false narratives before the official details of the process have been released."
The BJP leader also pointed out that Union Home Minister Amit Shah, during his recent visit to Tamil Nadu, had clarified that no state would be disadvantaged in the delimitation exercise, which would proceed on a pro-rata basis.
Annamalai further criticized the "Rights proportional to the Population" (Jitne Abadhi Utni Haq) narrative propagated by the INDIA alliance, suggesting that this stance could harm the southern states during the delimitation process, especially since Tamil Nadu has implemented population control measures. "Our Honourable Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, addressed these concerns in 2023, emphasizing that such propaganda would negatively impact southern states," he stated.
The BJP leader also accused CM Stalin of raising issues about delimitation and the three-language formula to divert attention from his government's alleged misgovernance and deflect criticism.
Concluding his letter, Annamalai reiterated that there was no credible source for Stalin's claims about the delimitation exercise being population-based. He termed these fears as "imaginary and baseless" and announced that the BJP would not participate in the all-party meeting scheduled for March 5, 2025.
