Chennai, Aug 15:
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president Manickam Tagore on Thursday criticised PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss for supporting an increase in the number of Lok Sabha constituencies through delimitation, accusing him of backing the BJP-led Centre’s proposal at the cost of Tamil Nadu’s political representation and State rights.
In a social media post tagging Anbumani, Tagore questioned whether the PMK leader was advancing what he described as “fundamentally flawed” arguments in support of the Centre’s delimitation exercise because of pressure arising from a CBI case.
Responding to Anbumani’s argument that Tamil Nadu could potentially get 59 Lok Sabha seats after delimitation, Tagore said the primary responsibility of MPs was to make and amend laws rather than directly implement development projects.
He argued that if the objective was to improve development, greater powers and financial resources should be devolved to local bodies instead of merely increasing the number of MPs.
Tagore also challenged Anbumani’s argument that an increase in the number of constituencies would strengthen women’s representation. He questioned why the proposed 33% reservation for women could not be implemented immediately within the existing 543 Lok Sabha constituencies.
According to Tagore, delimitation based on population would effectively penalise Tamil Nadu for successfully implementing population-control measures over the years. He maintained that the State could lose political influence in Delhi despite having achieved better demographic outcomes.
The Congress leader also questioned Anbumani’s participation in the ongoing Parliament session, asking how much time the PMK leader had actually spent speaking in the Lok Sabha.
Tagore said the issue was not simply the number of MPs representing Tamil Nadu but the manner in which Parliament was functioning and the extent to which elected representatives were able to effectively raise issues concerning their constituencies and States.
He concluded by accusing those supporting the proposed delimitation exercise of committing a “historical betrayal” of Tamil Nadu and asserted that the State’s rights would not be surrendered.