Delimitation row: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah extends support to multi-state fight

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has agreed to join a multi-state coalition that Tamil Nadu is stitching up to fight the union government on delimitation of Parliament seats.

Siddaramaiah conveyed support during his meeting with Tamil Nadu forest minister K Ponmudy and Rajya Sabha member M M Abdulla here.

The delegation had come to invite Siddaramaiah to join the Joint Action Committee (JAC), which Tamil Nadu is building with Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Odisha and Punjab. The delegation also met Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.

According to a statement from Siddaramaiah’s office, he also spoke to his Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin over a call. “CM Siddaramaiah extended his support to the fight by the southern states,” the statement said.

“Karnataka will condemn without hesitation any move by the union government that hurts the interests of the state, weakens democracy and is against federalism,” Siddaramaiah told the Tamil Nadu delegation, the statement said.

Stalin is hosting the first meeting of the JAC at Chennai on March 22 to chart a collective course forward on delimitation.

In his letter to Siddaramaiah, Stalin accused the union government of providing “neither clarity nor any concrete commitment” to address the states’ concerns.

“Reports suggest that the delimitation exercise is being considered based on population, with two potential approaches,” Stalin stated. “In the first case, the existing 543 seats could be redistributed among the states and in the second case, the total number of seats could be increased beyond 800,” he explained.

“In both scenarios, all the states that have successfully implemented population control measures stand to lose significantly if the exercise is based on post-2026 population. We should not be thus penalised for effectively controlling population growth and upholding national development goals,” Stalin argued.

Last year, Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, who represents Karnataka in the GST Council, said the number of Parliament seats in South India could reduce from 129 to 103 if delimitation happens based on the new Census. “We're not against the new Census, but proportionality of the 1971 Census should be maintained," he said.