Vehemently criticising the Centre for its failure on every front, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday charged that the UPA regime had turned down every legitimate request of the State and stymied every one of its initiatives.
“We have repeatedly demanded action on critical issues affecting our State but the Centre has failed to take cognisance”, the CM observed at the 57th National Development Council meeting in New Delhi.
Taking a rather critical view of the 12th Plan Document, Jayalalithaa said, “I had made several valuable and useful suggestions on the Approach Paper to the 12th Plan. Given that it took nearly 14 months for the final draft to be prepared, I had a fond hope that at least some of the suggestions made in the last NDC meeting would find their way into the final Plan Document.”
“But,” she added, “I found that no reasonable and legitimate suggestion from the states has been accepted and the big brotherly and undemocratic approach of superimposing on elected state governments the dubious policies, priorities and programmes of a minority ruling coterie in Delhi has prevailed.” What she meant was, instead of a being consensual document evolved out of a discussion with States, the Plan Document read like the agenda of a political party that governs in alliance with coalition partners. “The regime at the Centre, is caught up in the daily squabbles of its constituents, in merely trying to survive from day to day, has neither the time nor the inclination to pay attention to the problems of this country,” she said, in her speech.
Jayalalithaa further charged that the Centre was insensitive to requests and demands made by Tamil Nadu on critical issues like power, infrastructure development, Cauvery water and assistance packages. Such vindictive and discriminative act of the Centre was highly condemnable, she added.
The CM also blamed the Centre for its inadequate support for TN’s infrastructure initiatives and lack of access to Central government lands even for projects like airports, metro-rail and road projects.
She also flayed the Centre on the Cauvery dispute: “The Centre has been completely ineffective in playing its constitutional role in ensuring that the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal was duly notified.”
While the Centre’s general approach towards states was condescending, when one analyses the data regarding allocations for individual states in the 11th Plan, the unfairness displayed towards Tamil Nadu takes one’s breath away, she added.