'Next Prime Minister from South India, north monopoly should end': Tamil Nadu Sports Minister Aadhav Arjuna

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Sports Minister Aadhav Arjuna opined that the long-standing custom of North Indians becoming Prime Minister of the nation should change.

“The Prime Minister should come from South India, especially from Tamil Nadu.” Aadhav was speaking during a debate on a resolution against the delimitation of constituencies in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.

He also said that delimitation of constituencies based on population will increase the dominance of the North Indian states. The resolution is not between the Congress and the BJP, but to uphold the autonomy of the states. The minister clarified that the resolution was needed to prevent Tamil Nadu from falling under the dominance of North India.

Aadhav opined that the central government went ahead imposing NEET, GST, and the Citizenship Amendment Act against the interests of the state because of the poor representation Tamil Nadu has in Parliament. The minister said that the state would not benefit by any means even if seats are increased by 50 per cent, and thus asked all 39 MPs of the state to stand together and vote against the bill rather than staging a walkout from Parliament.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA Bhojarajan criticised the minister's remarks. Bhojarajan said that the resolution against the delimitation of constituencies was unnecessary and said delimitation was a necessity considering urbanisation and population growth.