CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Thursday after a span of nine months since his first visit as soon as he took charge, to seek the PM’s intervention on various issues, including allocation of funds and pending dues for shared schemes.
The CM’s three-day visit to the national capital will see ‘secular allies’ coming together for the opening of Anna-Kalaignar Arivalayam, the DMK party office in New Delhi on Saturday.
During this three-day visit, the chief minister would meet five Union ministers, beginning with Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari on Thursday, and Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal on Friday. “This is a meeting to demand our state’s rights, including allocation of funds for projects announced by the government, the tax revenue to be paid by the Union government to Tamil Nadu, and flood relief,” Stalin said.
The state government has been confronting “a series of challenges” in terms of finances and lack of support in getting assent for the legislations unanimously passed by the House, and frequent arrests of fishermen in Palk Bay. The DMK government re-adopted the anti-NEET bill within days after Raj Bhavan returned the bill stating that it was against the interests of students.
In Parliament, the DMK had recently accused the Union government of not releasing the pending dues of Rs 20,287 crore under various heads, including GST compensation and MGNREGA, the rural employment scheme, and grants of the rural local bodies. “We have to get the rightful share. It is the duty of the centre to extend all possible approvals and address the pending issues fast. The Union government should say in no uncertain terms that no dam shall be built without the concurrence of the lower riparian state, Tamil Nadu,” DMK Parliamentary Party leader, T R Baalu told TOI.
Stalin is expected to raise the Mekedatu dam issue with the PM. In a statement, Stalin said that many historians had consistently insisted that the history of India should be written from the south. “The proud event of writing the history of the South in Delhi takes place on April 2. The DMK and the Dravidian model of implementing its policies are indispensable in national politics. Anna-Kalaignar Arivalayam to be opened in Delhi is the strong sign of that,” the CM said, adding that Congress president Sonia Gandhi, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, leaders of the Left parties, leaders of parties that strive to uphold social justice, and the leaders committed to secular principles would participate in the event. Invitations were extended to Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and several party leaders.
