Siddaramaiah (right) and DK Shivakumar BENGALURU: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah backed his Tamil Nadu counterpart MK Stalin’s campaign against the proposed population-based delimitation exercise with a call to action on Wednesday, contrasting with his deputy DK Shivakumar calling for a nuanced approach based on the party high command’s “final call”.A Tamil Nadu delegation met Siddaramaiah in Bengaluru and Stalin reached out to him over phone, proposing a joint action committee consisting of representatives of several states to collectively oppose the delimitation move.A statement from the CMO confirmed Karnataka’s alignment with the protest against what the southern states call “an undemocratic stance” to carry out delimitation without everyone on board.Stalin requested Karnataka to nominate a senior Congress representative to coordinate a unified strategy. A preliminary meeting is scheduled for March 22 in Chennai.The delegation led by TN forest minister K Ponmudy and Rajya Sabha member Mohammad Abdullah Ismail discussed with Siddaramaiah the need to challenge the alleged bias against southern states, the CMO said. Siddaramaiah said Congress “unequivocally condemns all actions of the Union govt that are against Karnataka’s interest, weaken democracy and go against the federal principles of the Constitution”.The proposed joint action committee could have members from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Odisha and Punjab.DMK has been reaching out to functionaries across party lines, including NDA allies like Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu.Shivakumar said DMK being Congress’s ally, the party appreciated its stance. “However, as a national party, we must consult our high command and proceed based on their guidance.”Delimitation will penalise progressive states: DMKDMK member D M Kathir Anand in Lok Sabha on Wednesday said the impending delimitation exercise penalises progressive states like Tamil Nadu which have controlled population growth and asked the govt to ensure equitable representation of all states in Parliament and state assemblies. Flagging the issue during Zero Hour, he said, “ Govt should consider economic performance and vital indices like GSDP, per capita income, infrastructure improvement and not just population while doing the delimitation exercise”. The delimitation issue was also raised by BJP member Nishikant Dubey who flagged instances of Bangladeshi infiltrators entering India through the borders of West Bengal, and said Centre should exclude them when conducting delimitation.
Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar not on same page as delimitation row escalates | India News
