An all-party consultation of Members of Parliament on constituency delimitation was held in Chennai on Friday, chaired by Chief Minister Vijay. The meeting was convened amid strong opposition in Tamil Nadu to the Union government’s proposed delimitation exercise.
The DMK stayed away, saying it would participate only if the state agreed to convene an all-party meeting on the Cauvery issue. The AIADMK also decided not to attend.
The meeting took place at Kalaivanar Arangam in Chepauk. A total of 19 Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs from the Chief Minister’s alliance parties—including the Congress, VCK, Left parties, Muslim League and MDMK—took part.
Among those present were Congress MPs P. Chidambaram, Manickam Tagore, Jyothimani, Vishnu Prasad and Vijay Vasanth; CPM MPs Venkatesan and Sachithanandam; CPI MPs Selvaraj and Subbarayan; MDMK MP Durai Vaiko; and Muslim League MP Nawaz Kani. Congress MP Sudha said she could not attend as she was participating in a party meeting in Karnataka.
Tamil Nadu has 57 MPs in total—39 in the Lok Sabha and 18 in the Rajya Sabha. As per the report, 37 MPs boycotted the meeting, including 30 from the DMK and four from the AIADMK, along with one each from PMK, DMDK and Makkal Needhi Maiam.
