Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday accepted the invitation of his Tamil Nadu counterpart M.K. Stalin to attend the March 22 meeting on the delimitation issue.
Tamil Nadu IT Minister P. Thiaga Rajan and South Chennai MP Thamizhachi Thangapandian met CM Vijayan at his official residence and handed him the personal invite of CM Stalin.
It is learnt that Vijayan may delegate a State Minister and a Parliament member to attend the meet in Chennai. Later the TN visiting delegation arrived at the state party headquarters of the CPI(M) and the CPI and interacted with the top leaders of both parties.
Minister Rajan in a post on X said, "On behalf of Hon’ble Chief Minister Thiru. @mkstalin, I, along with Hon’ble MP (South Chennai) Dr.@ThamizhachiTh, met with Hon’ble Kerala Chief Minister Thiru.@pinarayivijayan in Thiruvananthapuram today. We extended our Chief Minister's invitation for the Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting to be held in Chennai on March 22, 2025, to collectively oppose the unfair delimitation exercise - an undeniable assault on federalism and the rightful representation of our states. The Kerala Chief Minister expressed his strong solidarity with Tamil Nadu on this issue and assured his full support in our collective fight to uphold democratic values and safeguard the rights of our people."
CM Stalin has called for a meeting of Chief ministers and various state leaders from different political parties regarding the proposed delimitation of parliamentary constituencies on March 22 in Chennai. Incidentally, both Stalin and Vijayan have had the best of relations and have shared the stage on some occasions in both Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Yesterday, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said he has deputed D.K. Shivakumar to attend the deleberation in Chennai. Odisha's BJD too has promised participation. Telangana CM Revanth Reddy said his party fully supports the initiative and he would attend after getting a nod from the Congress headquarters.
The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu, which has consistently opposed delimitation, argues that the process could reduce Tamil Nadu’s representation in Parliament. Stalin questioned whether Tamil Nadu was being punished for its success in population control.
The AIADMK, Congress, Left parties, and actor-politician Vijay’s TVK participated in the meeting, while the BJP, Tamil nationalist NTK, and Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) boycotted it.