 "Jaya meets Modi, denies talks of joining NDA")
She dismissed speculation that her party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), was joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) but indicated her party would be open to supporting the government in the Rajya Sabha “if the need arises”.
Jayalalithaa had refused to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Modi and his ministers on May 26 to protest the presence of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. But relations between the BJP leadership and Jayalalithaa are back on an even keel. After their meeting, Jayalalithaa heaped much praise on the prime minister. She said Modi was a chief minister for nearly 13 years and understood the needs of state governments.
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Jayalalithaa also called on President Pranab Mukherjee and met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. According to a Ministry of Finance release, she discussed financial issues relating to Tamil Nadu with Jaitley and senior officers of the ministry, including Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram and Expenditure Secretary Ratan P Watal.
During the course of her 50-minute meeting with Modi, Jayalalithaa submitted a 27-page memorandum to the prime minister. It, among other things, demanded the Centre repeal the United Progressive Alliance government’s decision to allow foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail and share the burden of fuel subsidy with states. The Tamil Nadu chief minister rejected reports that she met Modi to demanda special financial packages in lieu of joining the NDA or supporting the government in the Rajya Sabha. Jayalalithaa said she did not ask for any financial package. “Rather I stressed the prime minister to release the money which was promised by the Centre on earlier occasions,” she said.
The AIADMK has 37 Members of Parliament (MPs) in the Lok Sabha and 10 in the Rajya Sabha. The BJP has a simple majority in the Lok Sabha but is woefully short of numbers in the Rajya Sabha, where it does need the support of the AIADMK and several other parties on key legislations. On Monday, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had called on Modi to demand special status for his state.
There is a possibility that a bloc comprising the AIADMK (37 MPs) and the Biju Janata Dal (20 MPs) could get the Opposition status in the Lok Sabha. The two parties together have 57 MPs, which is more than the 10 per cent required to get the Opposition status in the House.
Jayalalithaa said Tamil Nadu was yet to get any of the assistances the Centre had announced from 2010. “For example, when Central Sales Tax (CST) was reduced, we were promised compensation and that is why we had agreed to it. Now, although CST has been reduced, we are yet to receive Rs 7,039 crore from the Centre,” she said.
Jayalalithaa claimed the Centre needed to refund Rs 4,000 crore to her state under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
The Tamil Nadu chief minister said the state government made its allocations in anticipation of receipt of central grants. “That is why I have stressed these should be immediately reimbursed,” the chief minister said.
Jayalalithaa requested the prime minister to form the Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee for the implementation of the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. She asked the Centre to expedite the nomination of a representative from the Central Water Commission in the supervisory committee to monitor the raising of water level to 142 feet in the Mullaiperiyar dam, according to a on May 7 judgment of the Supreme Court. Jayalalithaa demanded Rs 11,421 crore for modernising the canal system in the Cauvery Basin.
The state government also asked the Centre to support infrastructure projects, including urban infrastructure and services, Metro rail, transport and industrial infrastructure.
In the power sector, Jayalalithaa said the Centre should give the 15 per cent unallocated power share of 450 Mw in the Kudankulam nuclear power plant units, Neyveli Lignite Corporation projects and Vallur projects to the state.
She stressed the Centre support creation of an intra-state Green Energy Corridor by providing a grant of Rs 2,250 crore towards transmission schemes for evacuation of solar energy.
Agriculture insurance and food security-related issues, modernisation of the police force, declaration of Tamil as an official language, protection of interests of the poor, rural students, particularly from the Scheduled Castes and the grant of Digitally Addressable System licence for the Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation were some other issues which were taken up by Jayalaithaa with the prime minister. On the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils, Jayalaithaa said India should sponsor a resolution in the United Nations condemning the genocide in Sri Lanka.