New Delhi: Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai on Friday hit out at actor-politician, Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam chief Vijay for targeting his party over issues such as delimitation and he said that the fledgling party’s chief should take on the Congress and Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK.
The two parties did not secure even a single seat for the state in the Lok Sabha, when the count in the lower house was increased by 20 seats, after the completion of work by the Delimitation Commission that was set up in 1973.
Speaking to reporters in Delhi, Annamalai said: “Politics is not about just holding a microphone, delivering an address and waving at people. It is about working by being in the field.”
He said that following the constitution of the third delimitation commission in 1973, the Lok Sabha seats increased by 20, and he pointed out that Tamil Nadu did not even get one extra seat at that time (in the mid 1970s) and it was the Congress and DMK that held the reins of power at the Centre and the State respectively.
The then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had not secured even one seat for the state, Annamalai claimed. Hence, Vijay should be targeting only these two parties and must talk with an understanding of politics.
Further, he said Vijay was attempting to corner Prime Minister Narendra Modi just for the sake of stepping into the limelight. Annamalai rejected the view that he had a confrontationist attitude towards the AIADMK, Tamil Nadu’s main opposition party and former ally, and asserted that his mandate was to nurture and develop the BJP.
However, the interests of the people far outweighed party interests and the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly election is an example. “I will not cause any problem to anyone,” Annamalai said, who had been blamed by the AIADMK in the past for targeting its leaders.
The AIADMK snapped ties with the BJP in 2023. Recently, AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami said that the DMK is his party’s only rival and defeating it in the hustings next year is the goal. The AIADMK brass that met Union Home Minister Amit Shah days ago has given indications that it was not averse to considering a tie-up with BJP for the 2026 Assembly polls. However, it has made it clear that electoral tie-ups are decided only at the time of elections.
According to the Election Commission, Delimitation Commissions have been constituted 4 times since independence. The first was formed in 1952 under the Delimitation Commission Act, 1952 and the second was set up in 1963 under Delimitation Commission Act, 1962. The third panel was constituted in 1973 under Delimitation Act, 1972 and in 2002 it was formed under the Delimitation Act, 2002.
On the proposed delimitation, Vijay’s party on Friday cited ‘information’ that the number of seats for northern states would go up several times and for southern states, including Tamil Nadu, the count would go down.
“People of Tamil Nadu consider this as a punishment for properly following family planning scheme of the Union government,” the party alleged and wanted the Centre to drop the delimitation move.
Further, the party said that “543 Lok Sabha constituencies” should continue indefinitely and that is the stand of the TVK.
