DMK general secretary Duraimurugan. File
| Photo Credit: C. Venkatachalapathy
DMK general secretary Duraimurugan on Friday (August 7, 2026) urged the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government not to resort to “diversionary politics” when the immediate priority was to express Tamil Nadu’s united stand on the sharing of Cauvery water and Karnataka’s proposed Mekedatu dam project.Reacting to Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s decision to convene a meeting of Members of Parliament on August 8 to discuss delimitation, Mr. Duraimurugan said the DMK’s stand was that delimitation should be carried out fairly without affecting Tamil Nadu’s representation in Parliament. He added that the party’s MPs would participate in the meeting and present the DMK’s views.‘Committed to prior stance’Mr. Duraimurugan said the DMK remained firmly committed to the stand adopted at the all-party meeting convened by the previous DMK government last year and that there had been no change or dilution in its position.He said no political party was qualified to advise the DMK on delimitation when even the Business Advisory Committee of Parliament had not indicated that a delimitation Bill would be introduced.“It was the DMK and our leader M.K. Stalin who first alerted the nation to the dangers of an unfair delimitation exercise. We built opinion and consensus across the country, convened a Joint Action Committee of like-minded States and turned it into a national debate,” he said.Mr. Duraimurugan recalled that, at the height of the Assembly election campaign in Tamil Nadu, Mr. Stalin had appealed to people to hoist black flags at their homes to protest against the proposed delimitation exercise, demonstrating that protecting Tamil Nadu’s rights had taken precedence even over the election campaign.Mekedatu issueHe said the DMK had no hesitation in participating in the MPs’ meeting on delimitation scheduled for August 8. “However, the Tamil Nadu government should also convene an all-party meeting on the Cauvery water-sharing issue and the proposed Mekedatu dam,” he demanded.Mr. Duraimurugan alleged that the TVK government was maintaining a “studied silence” on the Mekedatu issue because it did not want to embarrass its new ally, the Congress, while simultaneously convening a meeting of MPs on delimitation.“Tamil Nadu’s representation in Parliament should not be reduced through delimitation. If the State’s interests are at stake, our leader will be at the forefront of the struggle to protect them. But the immediate priority is to prevent the construction of the Mekedatu dam and safeguard Tamil Nadu’s rights over Cauvery water,” he added. Published - August 07, 2026 12:38 pm IST
