 "Jayalalithaa meets Modi with huge wish list")
Interestingly, the meeting took place on a day when all states, except Tamil Nadu, agreed to roll out a national goods and services tax (GST) as soon as the Bill in this regard the same gets cleared by the Parliament.
Jayalalithaa, who gave a 96-page memorandum to Modi, said before the Constitutional Amendment Bill on GST is taken up, the Centre should strive for a broad consensus on issues like the compensation period and methodology, revenue neutral rates, floor rates with bands, commodities to be excluded from GST, the IGST model and administrative control. The AIADMK chief said genuine apprehensions of states regarding loss of fiscal autonomy and permanent revenue loss should be addressed.
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She also sought Modi’s intervention to ensure that the income tax authorities support the initiative of her state government to revive a global manufacturing facility (of Nokia) and restore the Electronic Manufacturing Hub at Sriperumbudur. Foxconn recently came forward to revive the plant.
Jayalalithaa asked the Centre to retrieve Katchatheevu, an island ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974. She said the interests of Tamil Nadu fishermen should be protected and they should be added in list of tribal communities. She also sought diplomatic intervention to secure release of fishermen who have been arrested by Sri Lanka over the years.
Other top demands are linking of rivers in Tamil Nadu, formation of Cauvery Management Board, restriction on Karnataka from building the Mekedatu dam, alteration in route of GAIL pipeline, early commissioning of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant’s Unit-II and Cheyyur Ultra Mega Power Project.
Jayalalithaa said the Centre’s ambitious Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) would be difficult to implement without some modifications.
Tamil Nadu CM sought expansion of Chennai Metro as well as integration of Metro Rail and Chennai Mass Rapid Transit System.
Jayalalithaa said petroleum products should be exempted from service tax and excise duty and asked for uninterrupted supply of kerosene. She also sought digital licence for Arasu Cable Corporation.
Apart from all this, Tamil Nadu government sought immediate release of funds it had asked for (Rs 25,912 crore) to revive Chennai infrastructure which was damaged during last year’s floods. So far, Centre has released only Rs 1,737.65 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund.
This was Jayalalithaa’s first visit to Delhi after her second consecutive election victory in Tamil Nadu. Jayalalithaa, who arrived in the afternoon, summoned her party MPs, the largest regional group in Parliament, before meeting Modi. Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Thambidurai, Special Advisor Sheela Balakrishnan and Chief Secretary Rama Mohan Rao accompanied her.
AIADMK has 12 members in the Rajya Sabha after the recent round of elections to the Upper House. In both the houses of Parliament, AIADMK has 50 members and is the third largest party.
TN CM had also urged the centre to set up an All India Institute of Medical Science in the state along with addressing the issues related to NEET in state.
Srilankan Tamils issue, lifting of the ban on the conduct of Jallikattu and declaring Tamil as an official language were also among the demands made by the chief minister. She wanted a decision to allow use of Tamil as the language of Madras High Court.