Hectic Preparations for JAC Meeting on Delimitation

Chennai: Three Chief Ministers and one Deputy Chief Minister are among the 24 political leaders from the six States who have confirmed their participation at the first meeting of the Joint Action Committee, convened by Chief Minister M K Stalin in Chennai to work out a strategy to get a fair deal for the States in the impending delimitation process without getting penalizing for implementing the population control programme of the country.

The Chief Ministers are Pinayari Vijayan (Kerala), Bhagant Mann (Punjab) and Revanth Reddy (Telangana) and the Deputy Chief Minister is D K Shiva Kumar from Karnataka and the other leaders from Kerala are Binoy Viswam (CPI), PMA Salam (IUML), Jose K Mani (Kerala Congress-Mani), Francis George (Kerala Congress), N K Premachandran (RSP) and Kambakudi Sudhakaran (Congress),

From Karnataka Rajendra Cholan and A S Ponnana (Congress) will be participating while from Punjab, Daljit Singh Cheema, Balwinder Singh Bhunder (both SAD) and Sanjay Singh (AAP, from Odisha Sanjay Kumar Das Barma (BJD), Bhakta Charan Das (Congress), Amar Patnaik (BJD) have confirmed participation.

The Telangana leaders are Mahesh Goud (Congress), K T Rama Rao (BRS), Imtiaz Jaleel (AIMIM), P Vinoth Kumar (BRS), while from Andhra Pradesh Udhay Srinivas (JSP) and Midhun Reddy (YSRCP) will be there at the ITC Grand Chola hotel to discuss the delimitation issue.

Ahead of the meeting Stalin released a video message explaining the need for such a meeting and why the DMK took the initiative in making the delimitation issue a talking point. He said that delimitation should be carried out mandatorily in 2026 and if it was done on the basis of the population, some States, including Tamil Nadu would lose seats in the Parliament.

So Tamil Nadu decided to raise the voice of protest against penalizing States that controlled the population following the national mission on limiting families because it was not just about losing seats but also the rights of the States, he said.

Explaining how he went about the process of first getting support from all the major parties in the State, other than the BJP, and then reaching out to leaders of parties in other States that too have done well in population control, he said he first wrote letters to seven Chief Ministers of those States that had representation in the Lok Sabha.

Stalin also spoke to the Chief Ministers personally and urged them to attend the meeting in Chennai on Saturday or nominate representatives. Allowing the delimitation process to penalize States for controlling population would lead to federalism and democracy losing their meaning, he said.

The States affected by delimitation would see their voices being crushed and unable to uphold their rights, he said, adding that if it was carried out in an unfair manner, by taking the present population into consideration, it would be an insult to the States.

Chennai, on its part, geared up for the historic event through illumination of buildings with colourful lights proclaiming 'fair delimitation' and a sand statue erected on the beach.

BJP State President K Annamalai announced a black flag demonstration by the party members who were asked to hold it in front of their own homes at 10 am on Saturday.

He said that the political leaders who denied water to Tamil Nadu from the Mullaiperiyar dam and from the Cauvery were being hosted by the DMK government.