TN BJP slams JAC meeting for fair delimitation as cover up for graft

Chennai:  Tamil Nadu BJP senior leader and former Governor of Telangana and Puducherry, Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan, has described the Joint Action Council (JAC) meeting convened by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin as an attempt to cover up corruption by the participating leaders.

The BJP staged a black flag protest against the meeting, criticising Stalin for not showing similar urgency in addressing critical issues such as the Cauvery and Mullaiperiyar water-sharing disputes with Karnataka and Kerala.

BJP national spokesperson C.R. Kesavan said the DMK’s focus on delimitation was a diversionary tactic aimed at deflecting attention from what he termed as the “corrupt, failed, and disastrous misrule” of the DMK government.

“DMK’s divisive politics of fear-mongering, and its attempts to mislead and misinform the public, will backfire,” Kesavan said.

“Rahul Gandhi and the Congress, with their contradictory and opportunistic stance on delimitation, are engaging in a deeply condemnable form of politics.”

The first Joint Action Council meeting on ‘Fair Delimitation’ began in Chennai on Saturday, chaired by Chief Minister Stalin. The meeting saw participation from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, and representatives from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), and the Congress.

Although invited, West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) did not send a representative.

This JAC meeting is the latest step in Stalin’s broader outreach, which began with an all-party conference in Tamil Nadu on March 5.

That meeting brought together 58 registered political parties —excluding the BJP — who set aside ideological differences to form a united front against the proposed delimitation exercise scheduled for 2026.

The DMK and its allies argue that the proposed delimitation poses a threat to India’s federal structure. They contend that it will disproportionately reduce political representation for southern and eastern states — regions that have outperformed others in population control, economic development, healthcare, education, and social welfare.

Despite Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent assurance in Coimbatore that southern states would not lose even a single parliamentary seat, the Tamil Nadu government proceeded with the JAC meeting.

The DMK dismissed Shah’s comments, made during a public rally and not in an official forum, as non-binding and lacking legal weight.

“The delimitation process, as it currently stands, threatens the very foundation of Indian federalism,” Stalin warned in a video message on Friday.

“States that have responsibly managed population growth and contributed significantly to national development must not be penalised. Such a move would erode the essence of democracy,” he said.

—IANS