Delimitation: Stalin convenes emergency meeting of DMK MPs

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has convened an emergency meeting of DMK MPs on Wednesday to discuss the repercussions the state is likely to face due to the Centre's proposed delimitation exercise.

The emergency meeting will be held by Stalin via video conference from Dharmapuri, amid his busy electioneering schedule, party sources said.

The meeting would commence at 11 am, and the party line to be followed in Parliament on delimitation would be thrashed out, sources added.

Chief Minister Stalin on Tuesday warned of massive agitations bringing Tamil Nadu to a standstill and "protests with full force," if anything was done harming the state or if the political power of northern states was disproportionately increased in the delimitation exercise. He had said that the nation may have to witness again "the DMK of the 1950's and the 1960's," apparently referring to the party's early phase in which it spearheaded a slew of agitations over state rights and against alleged imposition of Hindi.

The DMK was founded in 1949 by Dravidian icon C N Annadurai.

Addressing election rallies in northern Tamil Nadu, Stalin had alleged on April 14 that the draft bill on women's reservation showed that it was a "conspiracy" that would increase the gap between Tamil Nadu and the northern states, when delimitation was implemented.

On Tuesday, after his Telangana counterpart Revanth Reddy wrote to him on delimitation, Stalin conveyed to him that, "Our unity is to protect our state rights and secure a just and equitable future for our generations to come. The South will stand together, speak with one voice, and uphold the true spirit of federalism." Reddy wrote to CMs of southern states and the UT of Puducherry proposing a "hybrid model" under which 50 per cent of the proposed additional seats would be allocated on a pro rata basis and the remaining on GSDP and other criteria.