Chennai, 23 March

The claims made by BJP Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai over Parliamentary delimitation not affecting the southern states do not matter and it is the words of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister that count, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said on Sunday. Speaking to reporters here before departing for Bengaluru, the Karnataka Congress chief also took a jibe at Annamalai, saying he was "being loyal to the party" and not to Tamil Nadu.

"Annamalai is not important here, it is important what the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and the Home Minister (Amit Shah) are conveying to the country. Poor Annamalai doesn't know anything," he said. "He is just doing his job, he wanted to show more loyalty to his party.... he is not showing loyalty to his state, he is showing loyalty to his party," Shivakumar charged.

The Deputy CM was here to attend the 'Fair Delimitation' meeting convened by DMK President and TN Chief Minister MK Stalin on Saturday where they demanded a freeze on parliamentary constituencies for another 25 years based on the 1971 census. While Shah has maintained that the delimitation done on pro rata basis will not affect south Indian states, the Southern states have said their proportional representation in such a method will be affected and those who successfully implemented population control measures would be punished.

Shivakumar further said Stalin had taken into 'confidence' over 50 political parties in the state earlier, apparently referring to an all-party meet in the state on delimitation and lauded him for doing a "good job" on the matter.