Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Saturday led a meeting of MPs from his alliance and friendly parties that unanimously resolved to oppose the Centre’s proposed delimitation exercise, with the participants demanding that the existing strength and state-wise allocation of Lok Sabha seats be retained.
The meeting was attended by 19 MPs from the Congress, VCK, MDMK, IUML, CPI and CPI(M), but was boycotted by the DMK and AIADMK. While the DMK termed the deliberations "a farce, a laughable exercise", the AIADMK described them as a "hurriedly staged drama."
According to a government release, the MPs demanded that the ratio of Lok Sabha to Rajya Sabha seats remain at 2.2:1 and decided to adopt a resolution in the state Assembly to permanently safeguard the rights of Tamil Nadu and other southern states.
Law Minister R Nirmal Kumar said the meeting had resolved that there was no need to alter the composition of elected bodies.
"No change is needed in the number of 543 (in Lok Sabha). Similarly, no change is warranted as regards the 39 LS seats in Tamil Nadu," he said.
Kumar alleged that the BJP-led Centre was pursuing delimitation for electoral gains and "election arithmetic", and demanded that the exercise be dropped and the existing "delimitation freeze" extended by another 25 years.
"Why do you want to do delimitation? Who is going to be benefited?" Kumar asked.
VCK chief and MP Thol Thirumavalavan said the participating parliamentarians had unanimously passed a resolution against the proposed exercise.
"We have unanimously passed a resolution. The (proposed) delimitation exercise must be dropped. The current total count of 543 (Lok Sabha seats) must continue. The seat allocation for the states must also continue as it is. That means, if we have 39 MPs in Tamil Nadu, that number must continue. This very consensus has been passed as a resolution in this meeting.
"The idea of increasing it to 50 per cent for all states or the stance of increasing the number based on population should not happen; that is the resolution adopted in this meeting. All the Members of Parliament presented their views on this basis."
Thirumavalavan said he believed the DMK and AIADMK, despite boycotting the meeting, would also oppose the delimitation exercise.
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said increasing the size of Parliament would not necessarily improve the quality of democracy.
"We are very clear that the number of MPs in the Lok Sabha must be frozen at 543. This freeze must continue and the distribution among the states in the same ratio as it is today, must continue and Tamil Nadu must have 39 members within a 543 member house."
Congress MP Jothimani said the Centre's proposed delimitation bill, in whatever form it may be introduced, including a possible 50 per cent increase in seats for each state, would be disastrous and must be opposed.
The meeting was attended by 11 Congress MPs, two each from the CPI, CPI(M) and VCK, and one each from the MDMK and IUML. Congress veteran P Chidambaram, CPI(M)'s Su Venkatesan and MDMK's Durai Vaiko were among those present.
The DMK, which has 22 Lok Sabha and eight Rajya Sabha MPs, did not attend. Its alliance partners MNM and DMDK, which have one Rajya Sabha MP each, were also absent.
The AIADMK and its ally PMK, which have four and one Rajya Sabha MPs respectively, also stayed away.
Senior DMK leader A Raja questioned the purpose of the meeting, calling it "a farce, a laughable exercise" and asking, "Is it fair?"
The AIADMK criticised the meeting on the grounds that no delimitation bill had been introduced in Parliament and there was no official announcement on the proposed exercise.
"Why is the chief minister hurriedly staging a drama in the name of an MP's meeting?"
The AIADMK also questioned why the chief minister was holding a meeting on delimitation while not convening an all-party meeting on the Cauvery-Mekedatu issue.
"To this day, the Mettur Dam has not been opened. There is no water in the delta districts."Without answering the tears of farmers, this government's diversionary political drama will never be supported," the AIADMK said.
(With inputs from PTI)