Chennai: Leader of the opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin questioned chief minister C Joseph Vijay’s shift in his stand on delimitation, resulting in an intense debate in the state assembly on Friday. TVK ministers maintained that the party has not changed its position.Udhayanidhi flagged the issue, citing Vijay’s speech in Southern Zone Council meeting chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday at Mamallapuram. He said the assembly resolution passed on Aug 12 sought a “freeze” on the total number of Lok Sabha seats at 543, but the demand was not mentioned in the chief minister’s speech at the SZC meeting. Udhayanidhi asked whether the CM and his govt had shifted from the anti-delimitation resolution passed by the House.PWD minister Aadhav Arjuna said the state govt has not changed its stand and that it was committed to freezing the current LS strength for another 25 years through special legislation. Law minister R Nirmalkumar echoed the stand. “I made the govt’s stand clear that we are against delimitation and want to maintain the existing LS strength at 543,” he said.Udhayanidhi said DMK too wants the current strength to be retained. If there is a change, Tamil Nadu’s share of representation in parliament should be maintained at 7.18 %, he said.Aadhav intervened and said there appears to be a change in DMK’s stand, not in TVK’s. He asked whether DMK would fully back the Aug 12 assembly resolution to protect the state’s autonomy. Former ministers K N Nehru and S Regupathy responded that DMK would never compromise on state autonomy. “We firmly want the state’s representation to be safeguarded at the present 7.18% ratio,” Nehru said.Nirmalkumar then demanded DMK to clarify whether they will oppose the delimitation bill or not in the parliament.Former CM Edappadi K Palaniswami joined the debate and backed the demand for “fair delimitation” as the constitutional freeze on LS seats was set to lapse after 2026, as the delimitation exercise was inevitable. “We should push for fair delimitation,” Palaniswami said.PMK MLA A Ganeshkumar also backed the demand. He alleged that VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan had changed his stand from “fair delimitation” to “no delimitation”, while Nehru made a similar charge on Congress.Wrapping up the debate, Aadhav applauded DMK and AIADMK for their efforts to protect state autonomy. He urged all parties to stand united, rejecting any offer that BJP may make with a “hidden agenda”.
