Jaya to meet Modi on 3 June
30 May 2014 11:55 PM GMT
Hours after prime minister Narendra Modi’s call for ‘state empowerment’, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa has decided to meet him on 3 June in the national capital to pitch for the retrieval of Katchatheevu from Sri Lanka and demand for the Cauvery Management Board.
The formal meeting will be followed by submission of a memorandum containing her long pending demands for the welfare of Tamil Nadu, which were not fulfilled during the UPA regime. This was one of the reasons behind Jayalalithaa’s pulling out her support from the UPA government.
The memorandum will include long-pending issues crucial to Tamil Nadu. One major issue which she is expecting Modi to consider is increasing the allocation of kerosene to the state.
The Centre had allocated 42,460 kiloliter a month to Tamil Nadu under the Public Distribution System (PDS) but the actual requirement is more than 65,140 kiloliter per month. Earlier, Jayalalithaa wrote a letter to the former PM Manmohan Singh, which remained unheeded.
This will be Jayalalithaa’s first meeting with Modi after he became PM on 26 May. During the swearing-in-ceremony she decided to stay away in protest against the invitation to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
It was expected that the AIADMK chief will bring these issues before the new PM because these concerns were highlighted as ‘priority’ in her general election manifesto. Sources said she is also expected to raise issues like oil pricing formula, securing licence to operate cable television services in Chennai by the Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation and safety of Indian fishermen.
Meanwhile, Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, who did not attend the swearing-in-ceremony, will also be meeting Modi on 2 June in New Delhi. He will also be meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice president Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
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