BJP holds black flag protest against CM Stalin’s delimitation meet

Chennai: Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai and other party leaders staged a black flag protest in Chennai on Saturday against Chief Minister MK Stalin and the ongoing delimitation meeting. The BJP leaders displayed black flags to register their protest over various issues.

Annamalai criticises Stalin over state issues

Speaking at the protest, Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai criticised the Chief Minister for not addressing key state issues with neighbouring states. He stated, "Our state has various issues with neighbouring states. With Kerala, we have the Mullaperiyar Dam issue... Karnataka government has opposed the Metro line towards Hosur from the Karnataka border. On various occasions, our CM didn’t raise these issues when he visited neighbouring states. But today, he has called all CMs and is doing drama on delimitation, which is not even a problem at all."

Opposition leaders arrive for delimitation meet

Meanwhile, leaders from several opposition parties have arrived in Chennai to attend the first Joint Action Committee Meeting on delimitation, called by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. The meeting aims to challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government on the issue, describing it as an attack on federalism. Posters and banners have been put up near the meeting venue, highlighting the key discussions taking place.

Political leaders in attendance

Leaders from Telangana, including Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao, reached Chennai on Friday night to participate in the meeting. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has also arrived for the discussions. Other key political figures attending include Odisha Congress President Bhakta Charan Das and Biju Janata Dal leader Sanjay Kumar Das Burma.

Stalin calls for a united front

Chief Minister Stalin has called for a joint effort from various political parties to raise their voices against delimitation, inviting representatives from multiple states to form a united front against what he describes as a "blatant assault on federalism."

Earlier, he had written to the Chief Ministers of seven states, including both National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ruling states and opposition-led states, urging them to join the movement against the delimitation exercise.

Ongoing sisputes between Tamil Nadu and the Centre

The Tamil Nadu government has been at odds with the central government over multiple issues, including the three-language formula proposed in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the delimitation process. Previously, CM Stalin had called an all-party meeting in Tamil Nadu to discuss the potential impact of delimitation on the state, a meeting that was boycotted by the BJP.

(Agency inputs)