Ordinance on Food Security 'cover-up' for scams of UPA: Jaya

Attacking the UPA government for rushing through the Food Security programme using an ordinance, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today charged it was an attempt to 'cover up' the taint of scams on the government and sought an exemption for her state from its implementation.

'Congress (led) government's adopting the short-cut of going in for an ordinance instead of discussing it in both Houses of Parliament amounts to hoodwinking the poor people,' she said.

She said an ordinance should be brought only during extraordinary times and the government opting for such an alternative was 'not acceptable' since no consensus had been arrived at after four years of deliberations with various stake-holders.

Holding that the Centre had earned the wrath of citizens for its 'anti-people' policies, she said the government was now attempting to earn their goodwill and it was 'unfortunate' that such a step was being taken in this regard.

She said there was no genuine public interest behind the move and alleged it was done with an eye on coming Lok Sabha polls.

When states' responses were sought in 2011, she had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying the universal PDS was functioning very well in the state and with the government allocating Rs 5,000 crore towards subsidy, it was well received among the people.

She recalled that she had objected to the Centre's targeted PDS method under the Food Security Bill, which she said would burden the state government with an additional expense of Rs 1,800 crore, besides arguing against categorisation of beneficiaries as Prioirty and General Houselholds.

There was no explanation on why 50% of urban population and 75% of their rural counterparts would be covered in the proposed bill, she said.