Chennai
oi-Gaurav Sharma
Tamil Nadu members of parliament from different parties have united to protest any attempt to reduce the state’s strength in Lok Sabha.
Speaking at a meeting on Saturday, the members demanded that the strength of Lok Sabha remains 543 and that Tamil Nadu should get all the 39 seats that it has at present.
Tamil Nadu MPs met Saturday, called by the CM, demanding Lok Sabha strength stay at 543 and the state retain its 39 seats amidst proposed delimitation, arguing population control efforts shouldn’t reduce political power.
The meeting was called by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay over the issue of the proposed delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies. It was attended by around 21 members of parliament. However, the Dravidian parties – DMK, AIADMK and some of their allies – boycotted the meet.
Why does Tamil Nadu care?
The issue of delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies, which will decide how many seats will be allocated to each state, and by extension, how many seats parties will get in elections to the Lok Sabha, is a highly contentious one.
The southern states do not want to lose out on the number of Lok Sabha seats as compared to the larger states that have a bigger representation in the Lok Sabha on the basis of population.
Tamil Nadu leaders argue that the state has been successful in curbing its population growth through the use of family planning and should therefore retain its political power in the Lok Sabha.
They argued that the state must not lose its political power due to its efforts to control population growth.
“Keep Tamil Nadu’s 39 seats”
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said that Tamil Nadu’s representation in Parliament should not be a “political football”.
Chidambaram stated that Congress wants the strength of Lok Sabha to remain 543 with all the seats in Tamil Nadu retained by the state.
He added that all political parties should stand together on the issue.
Congress MP Jyothimani urged her party members to work towards this goal as the delimitation process could affect Tamil Nadu adversely.
She appealed to DMK and AIADMK to “rise up to the occasion” and join the Congress in its effort.
Congress MP Praveen Chakraborty said that it was “disheartening” that DMK and AIADMK did not attend the meeting, and accused the Dravidian parties of failing to stand up for Tamil Nadu’s interests.
He alleged that the boycott showed that “these leaders do not care about Tamil Nadu’s political future.”
MP Vishnu Prasad warned that the voice of Tamil Nadu in Parliament can only shrink if its voice in the Lok Sabha is diminished. The members of parliament who attended the meeting were united in their call to retain Tamil Nadu’s 39 Lok Sabha seats and to maintain the strength of the Lok Sabha at 543 seats.
