In an effort to form a coalition of the willing to stall the impending threat of the delimitation exercise, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday written to seven of his counterparts, including Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal, Bhagwant Maan of Punjab, and BJP’s Mohan Chandra Mahji of Odisha, inviting them to Chennai on March 22 to chart a joint action plan.

The Tamil Nadu chief minister, spearheading the fight against population-based delimitation, also invited Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala, Siddaramiah of Karnataka, Revanth Reddy of Telangana, and Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh as well as leaders of political parties, including the BJP and BRS in these states to build a consensus.

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He had earlier held an all-party meeting in the state wherein the delimitation exercise was termed as a ‘Damocles sword hanging over the southern states.’

“The Union Govt’s plan for #Delimitation is a blatant assault on federalism, punishing States that ensured population control & Good governance by stripping away our rightful voice in Parliament. We will not allow this democratic injustice,” he wrote in a social media post and listed the invitees for the meeting in Chennai.

He further said that the invitation is for an ‘uncompromising fight against this unfair exercise’ and ‘to defend our states from being silenced’. Urging the political parties to depute senior representatives for the March 22 meeting, Stalin said, “Let us stand together not as separate political entities but as protectors of our people’s future.”