Centre clears air around bifurcation of Tamil Nadu; states 'No plans at present'

Putting an end to rumours about the bifurcation of Tamil Nadu, the Union government on Tuesday stated in the Parliament that there are 'no plans' to bifurcate the state. The statement of the government comes in response to a question that was tabled by DMK MPs S Ramalingam and Dr. TR Paarivendhar. The MPs had asked the Union Government if they had any proposal to bifurcate any state in the country and if yes, then what the reasons were, purpose, and motive of such a bifurcation.

“Creation of a new state has wide ramifications and direct bearing on the federal polity of our country. Government moves on the matter of the formation of new States after taking into consideration all relevant factors. Presently, no such proposal is under consideration,” read the answer by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai to an unstarred question in Parliament.

Specific to Tamil Nadu, the MPs had asked if the Union Government had received any demand from any individual or organisation to bifurcate the state and if so, by when. Replying to the same, Rai said that demands for bifurcation keep coming but at present, there were no plans for bifurcation of Tamil Nadu. 

Speculations around bifurcation of Tamil Nadu

Speculations around the bifurcation of Tamil Nadu started doing the rounds when the profile of Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L. Murugan introduced him as a hailer of ‘Kongu Nadu’, known as the western region of Tamil Nadu. The Minister, however, himself came forward to put an end to the speculations by claiming that it was nothing but a clerical error. "It is a clerical mistake. There is no need to talk about the issue anymore. It is over. Let us not talk about the issue,” MoS Murugan had said.

The Kongu region comprises the seven western districts of the state. The AIADMK-PMK-BJP alliance had earlier won 33 of the total 50 seats in the region while the DMK alliance took the power of almost all of the remaining regions. The mention of ‘Kongu Nadu’ had arose doubts in the minds of the opposition who claimed the government to be planning another ‘separation’ among states.