TN Min mocks at Stalin, says he has become soft towards Centre

AIADMK leader and Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar on Thursday mocked at DMK chief M K Stalin, saying his voice against the Centre has become very soft after the arrest of former finance minister P Chidambaram.

Jayakumar, a senior leader of the ruling party, sought to know if Stalin has strongly opposed the Centre on any issue after the arrest of Chidambaram in the INX media case.

Speaking to reporters on the ration card portability scheme vis-a-vis opposition to it from DMK, the Minister said Stalin issued only a brief statement opposing the initiative just for the sake of it.

"After Chidambaram's arrest, his voice has become very soft," he said adding he felt the DMK Chief would henceforth not make any vehement criticism against the Centre.

Asserting that the AIADMK government was more committed to protect the interests of the State, its people and consumers than the opposition DMK, he said the public distribution system would not be affected in any way in view of the 'one nation one ration card,' scheme proposed by the Centre.

Opposing the Centre's ration card scheme, Stalin on Wednesday said the Tamil Nadu government must not opt for it "endangering" the public distribution system in vogue for long 'and compromising' on the state's rights.

As part of its aim to implement 'One Nation, One Ration Card' across the country by June 1, 2020, the Centre had last month launched inter-state portability of ration card between Telangana-Andhra Pradesh as well as Maharashtra-Gujarat.

Jayakumar also holds the portfolios of personnel and administrative reforms.