‘Showing loyalty to his party’: DK Shivakumar slams Annamalai’s delimitation remark

CHENNAI: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Sunday slammed Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai’s remarks on delimitation, calling him unimportant and lacking knowledge on the matter.

Speaking to media, Shivakumar said, “Annamalai is not important here. It is important what the Prime Minister and the Home Minister are conveying to the country. Annamalai does not know anything. He is just doing his job, wanting to show more loyalty to his party. He is not showing loyalty to his state. He is showing loyalty to his party. Let him do his job.”

Shivakumar’s remark came after Annamalai on Saturday said that despite the pressing issues in Tamil Nadu, the CM had never visited Kerala to discuss matters with the neighbouring State. Instead, Stalin had invited Kerala’s Chief Minister to discuss an “artificial issue” related to delimitation.

“TN CM has never gone to Kerala to speak with them and solve the issues, but today, he has invited the Kerala CM to talk about an artificial issue which he has created,” Annamalai remarked.

He went on to condemn Stalin saying, “Our condemnation is for the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister for inviting the Kerala CM and not solving Tamil Nadu’s problems.”

On Saturday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin chaired the first Joint Action Committee meeting (JAC) in Chennai over the proposed delimitation issue. The meeting was joined by Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and other prominent leaders.

After the first meeting of the Joint Action Committee on delimitation, a resolution was unanimously adopted which asserts that “any delimitation exercise carried out by the Centre should be done “transparently” and after discussion and deliberation with all stakeholders.

DMK MP Kanizmozhi stated that the JAC has expressed its deep concern about the lack of “transparency and clarity” in the delimitation exercise without any consultation with the various stakeholders.

MK Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government has locked horns with the Central government over the three-language formula proposed in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the delimitation exercise. (ANI)