Chennai: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday assured that the southern States won’t lose a single parliamentary seat during the delimitation exercise and instead will get additional seats on pro-rata basis. Shah’s assurance at a meeting in Coimbatore, where he addressed BJP cadres, came a day after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin described the delimitation exercise “a Damocles Sword hanging over South India” and called for an all-party meeting on March 5 to discuss the issue. 

Accusing the Chief Minister of lying and misleading the people, Shah said, “Stalin has taken up a new issue – he is lying to Tamil Nadu people that number of seats of southern States in Lok Sabha will be reduced after delimitation. The Prime Minister has said in parliament that no State will lose any seats due to delimitation. [In fact], Tamil Nadu and other southern States will get additional seats on pro-rata basis.”

The Minister said, “The Prime Minister will ensure not even one seat is lost for any State. I assure the people of South India from Coimbatore that the Union government will keep their interests in mind and ensure they are duly represented in Parliament.”

Shah also took on Stalin for accusing the Modi Government of having done injustice to Tamil Nadu in terms of devolution of funds. “Today, I have come here to tell the Chief Minister saheb (sir), if you are telling the truth then respond to my points before the people of Tamil Nadu tomorrow. You don’t twist. Today, I have come here with statistics as to how the BJP Government has granted more funds to Tamil Nadu than the previous UPA Government. You give a reply to this,” he said.