Jaya snubs centre
28 Dec 2012 5:50 AM IST
Seething with rage on the ‘shabby treatment’ meted out to her, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa walked out of the National Development Council (NDC) meeting in New Delhi on Thursday, saying the voice of ‘chief ministers has been stifled’. This particular session of NDC had been called to discuss state of the economy and women’s safety.
Storming out of the meet, which was being chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Jayalalithaa said: ‘I had just begun my speech when they rang a bell. It was a big humiliation.’ Addressing the media, after the meeting, Jayalalithaa said, ‘We were told that only 10 minutes would be allotted to each chief minister and that after 10 minutes were up the bell would ring. This is unheard of.’ She asserted that this sort of practise had never happened before, as she had attended many such conferences in the past.
Recalling the incident, Jaya said, ‘This is utter humiliation of a chief minister who has come all the way to Delhi to present the views of the state government.’ She also alleged that ‘there have been many occasions when chief ministers who support the central government have been allowed to speak for 30-35 minutes’. She went on to say, ‘At the last conference that I attended, the Assam chief minister was allowed to speak for more than 35 minutes. It is impossible to convey the views of the state government in such a short period as 10 minutes.’
Explaining her point, she said that all chief ministers had been called to Delhi for the NDC to discuss the 12th Plan Document. She said that this document is ‘so lengthy and encompasses so many subjects that it is practically impossible to convey everything’ in 10 minutes. If the government wasn’t ready to give more time they should have not have called the chief ministers to ‘humiliate’ them, said Jaya.
While minister of state for parliamentary affairs and planning Rajeev Shukla said, ‘All the chief ministers have been given equal time. In fact, the prime minister invited her to speak out of turn before the others. She is trying to make political issue out of a non-issue.’
Storming out of the meet, which was being chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Jayalalithaa said: ‘I had just begun my speech when they rang a bell. It was a big humiliation.’ Addressing the media, after the meeting, Jayalalithaa said, ‘We were told that only 10 minutes would be allotted to each chief minister and that after 10 minutes were up the bell would ring. This is unheard of.’ She asserted that this sort of practise had never happened before, as she had attended many such conferences in the past.
Recalling the incident, Jaya said, ‘This is utter humiliation of a chief minister who has come all the way to Delhi to present the views of the state government.’ She also alleged that ‘there have been many occasions when chief ministers who support the central government have been allowed to speak for 30-35 minutes’. She went on to say, ‘At the last conference that I attended, the Assam chief minister was allowed to speak for more than 35 minutes. It is impossible to convey the views of the state government in such a short period as 10 minutes.’
Explaining her point, she said that all chief ministers had been called to Delhi for the NDC to discuss the 12th Plan Document. She said that this document is ‘so lengthy and encompasses so many subjects that it is practically impossible to convey everything’ in 10 minutes. If the government wasn’t ready to give more time they should have not have called the chief ministers to ‘humiliate’ them, said Jaya.
While minister of state for parliamentary affairs and planning Rajeev Shukla said, ‘All the chief ministers have been given equal time. In fact, the prime minister invited her to speak out of turn before the others. She is trying to make political issue out of a non-issue.’
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