CHENNAI: Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin on Friday wrote to leaders of political parties and CMs of seven states, inviting them for a meeting in Chennai on March 22 as a first step towards “unified action” against any move by the BJP-led union government to implement delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies in a manner that will reduce the representation of states that have successfully implemented population control.

The letter comes after an all-party meeting in TN, chaired by Stalin, on Wednesday, during which it was resolved to constitute a Joint Action Committee (JAC) comprising parliamentarians from southern states to take forward a united struggle on the issue.

Though the all-party meet resolution only mentioned southern states, Stalin has sent the letter to the CMs and the leaders of national and regional parties in Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Punjab and, interestingly, the BJP-ruled Odisha. In his post regarding the letter on X, he also tagged the state units of the BJP and its allies in the seven states.

Stalin also sought the leaders’ consent to be a part of the JAC, comprising eight states, and a nomination of one representative from each party to serve on the committee to help coordinate a unified strategy. Only a collaborative analysis and unified advocacy can secure a delimitation process that honours the states’ role in nation-building without compromising their current representation in percentage terms, he said.

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