Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik has nominated two party leaders Amar Patnaik and Sanjay Dasburma to attend a meeting on delimitation scheduled to be held on Saturday in Chennai.
A statement from the regional party said that former Rajya Sabha member Amar Patnaik and former ex-Minister Sanjay Dasburma will represent the BJD at the Joint Action Committee meeting convened by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief MK Stalin.
Notably, a two-member delegation of Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK comprising TRB Rajaa and Dayanidhi Maran had met Patnaik – Odisha’s Leader of Opposition – on March 11 and invited him to attend the meeting on delimitation.
The delegation also had urged Patnaik to make the BJD, which was in power in Odisha for 24 years, a part of the JAC over the Centre’s proposal for redrawing of constituencies solely on the basis of population.
Naveen’s go-ahead for the BJD to be a part of the meeting was criticised by BJP’s Odisha unit, which accused the BJD of getting closer to the DMK.
“While the whole country is in favour of delimitation, the DMK is trying to take forward their ever-divisive agenda. Now that the Biju Janata Dal is also joining in, it proves that even now the party is not free from the Tamil imprint,” Odisha BJP spokesperson Anil Biswal had said.
In response, the BJD said, “Perhaps the Odisha BJP party is suffering from Tamil Nadu jaundice. What is wrong if some regional and national political parties discuss the delimitation issue among themselves? The Odisha BJP need not be reactive.”
The DMK has been reaching out to leaders of different parties, including those also within the NDA like Chandrababu Naidu, to discuss the delimitation issue.
Stalin had earlier written to his counterparts in Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, West Bengal, Punjab, Odisha, inviting them to join hands with the state and be part of the JAC for an “uncompromising fight” over delimitation of Lok Sabha seats, which he termed as an “unfair exercise”.
He proposed the inaugural JAC meeting in Chennai on March 22, and urged the leaders to join forces to chart a “collective course forward”.