Hyderabad: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said that regarding whether to join the Joint Action Committee proposed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on delimitation issue, the Karnataka government will follow the instructions of Congress' central leadership.

"We will go by our party high command, and if the high command tells us, we will be a part of that and join hands with them," Shivakumar told ANI.

Notably, Stalin has called for a joint effort from various political parties to raise their voices against delimitation, calling for a JAC meeting on March 22 in Chennai and inviting representatives from various political parties to join against the "blatant assault on federalism."

On Saturday, Stalin wrote to the Chief Ministers of seven states, both from National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ruling states and otherwise, to join him in the "fight against this unfair exercise."

He wrote to Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy, Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi, and heads of all political parties in those respective states to join him.

Calling upon state units of national parties and regional parties to send senior representatives for the JAC, he tagged the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Telegu Desam Party, Jana Sena Party, AITC, Janata Dal, Aam Aadmi Party, Akali Dali, Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI, AIMIM and multiple other state units for the meeting.

Congress backed CM Stalin's stance on delimitation. However, the party has not yet confirmed whether they will join the JAC meeting on March 22.

In his letter to other CMs, Stalin pointed out that the previous delimitation exercises were conducted in 1952, 1963, and 1973, but they were frozen by the 42nd Amendment in 1976 until the first census after 2000.

The freeze was extended in 2002 until the census after 2026. However, with the 2021 Census delayed, the delimitation process might happen earlier than expected, potentially affecting states that have controlled their population and achieved better governance.

The Chief Minister stated that if the exercise is based on population after 2026, states with better population control would face a reduction in parliamentary representation, which he called unjust. He also stated that the Union Government has not clarified the matter, only offering vague assurances.

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