00:00So we've broken down for you the different issues over which we saw a showdown in the Assembly.
00:04The third one was on delimitation.
00:07What's led to a fresh political war of words in Tamil Nadu over this?
00:10Well, the DMKs accused the TVK of going back on their stand on delimitation,
00:15essentially suggesting that the TVK had first set freeze,
00:18and then in the meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah and in the southern zonal meet,
00:22the TVK only asked for a written assurance that there would be no change in the state's percentage,
00:28which is the DMK's stand of a fair delimitation.
00:31That played out in the Assembly as well as outside,
00:34as the Congress came to the defence of the TVK reiterating that a freeze is what they stand for.
00:40The DMK, however, is not convinced.
00:54The delimitation battle is heating up in Tamil Nadu.
00:58Congress MP Karthi Chidambaram has warned that a major increase in Lok Sabha seats
01:03could reduce political influence of southern states.
01:23His argument is simple.
01:25If seats are increased by 50%, a handful of Hindi-speaking states could gain enough numbers
01:32to determine who forms the government at the centre.
01:35DMK has also stepped up its attack.
01:38Leader of Opposition Udayanidi Stalin hit out at Chief Minister Vijay for not mentioning anything about freezing 543 MP seats.
02:12D.M.K. MP Diyani Dhimaran accused the government of changing its position.
02:17and questioned whether Tamil Nadu's interests were being compromised.
02:22When your leader said no delimitation, your alliance party, Chief Minister is asking for a fair delimitation.
02:31So we'd like to know that, how can the Tamil Nadu chief minister keep changing his stance or did he
02:39get scared?
02:41But now the DMK faces a counter-attack from TVK.
02:45TVK leader Adhav Arjuna has demanded that the DMK make its position absolutely clear.
03:09He also pointed to Tamil Nadu government's earlier resolution,
03:13calling for the total number of Lok Sabha seats to remain frozen at 543.
03:19Tamil Nadu Minister Adhav hit back at DMK and said that DMK's stance on delimitation seems to be changing.
03:26So the political question remains as pressing as ever.
03:30Will Tamil Nadu unite against any increase in Lok Sabha seats?
03:34Or will the DMK and TVK continue to battle over who is taking the strongest stand on delimitation?
03:41Vitanaga Keshav and Apoorva Jaichandaran in Chennai, Bera Report, India Today.
Comments