The Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged a black flag protest against the MK Stalin-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government, accusing it of “giving away” the state’s rights to other states. The protest, led by state BJP chief K Annamalai, targeted the DMK government while also opposing the presence of Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar over the Mekedatu dam project issue.
Annamalai criticized Stalin for holding a meeting on delimitation, calling it unnecessary and a distraction from real issues.
“Our state has various issues with neighboring states. With Kerala, we have the Mullaperiyar Dam issue. Karnataka has opposed the Metro line towards Hosur. Yet, on several occasions, our CM has failed to raise these concerns. But today, he has called all CMs for a drama on delimitation, which is not even a real problem,” Annamalai told reporters.
The BJP held protests across Tamil Nadu, waving black flags to condemn what they claim is DMK’s failure in protecting the state’s interests.
Meanwhile, Chief Ministers and political leaders from several opposition-ruled states gathered in Chennai for the first Joint Action Committee Meeting on delimitation. Telangana CM Revanth Reddy, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader KT Rama Rao, Odisha Congress President Bhakta Charan Das, and Biju Janata Dal leader Sanjay Kumar Das Burma were among those attending.
Stalin, who has been at odds with the Centre over issues such as the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the delimitation exercise, has framed the meeting as a crucial step in protecting India’s federal structure.
Ahead of the meeting, he posted on X, “Today will be etched in history as the day when states that have contributed to our nation’s development came together to safeguard its federal structure by ensuring #FairDelimitation.”
While opposition leaders view the meeting as a united front against centralization of power, the BJP continues to dismiss it as political theatrics. The clash over delimitation is the latest in the growing tensions between the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government and the BJP-led central government.
