Chennai: Former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on February 4 that the recent Cabinet expansion only showed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Hindi states dominated the 'skewed polity' in New Delhi, as not even a single 'weighty' portfolio had been given to the South.

In recent times, there was no representation to the South even in the Cabinet Committee on Security and Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, he said, answering questions at a press conference.

'I would urge all political parties in the Southern states to deeply look into it and reconsider their respective positions, as virtually, none of them have any say in the Centre today', Chidambaram, general secretary of Congress Jananayaga Peravai (CJP), said.

Answering a question on CRA (Cauvery River Authority) meetings convened by the Prime Minister in which Chief Ministers boycotted it in turns, Chidambaram felt the Prime Minister was not assertive. "Can any Chief Minister ignore such meetings, if he was very assertive?" he asked. Their absence or boycott was "wrong", he said.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa should "prevail upon the Prime Minister to assert his authority during such meetings." All Chief Ministers were also "morally obliged to attend such meetings", he felt.

PTI