Jayalalithaa to meet PM Modi on Tuesday; Cauvery dispute, TN fishermen, GST on agenda

Chennai: The stage is set for a meeting between Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday in Delhi wherein she will take up with him a host of state-related issues. She is expected to leave for Delhi on Tuesday morning by a chartered flight and will be back in Chennai the same day. [caption id=“attachment_2780598” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. PTI[/caption] Formation of Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee for the implementation of the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and Mullaperiyar issue will be among the water resources related issues that she is expected to take up with Modi. Continuing arrests of Tamil Nadu fishermen by Sri Lankan navy vis-a-vis protection of their traditional fishing rights, retrieval of Katchatheevu which was ceded to the island nation decades ago by India are also likely to come up for  discussion. The meeting is also expected to see discussions related to support of AIADMK in the Rajya Sabha for key legislative business where it has 13 members. Several crucial Bills like the GST are yet to see the light of the day in the Upper House. “Chief Minister Jayalalithaa will be leaving Chennai for New Delhi on the morning of 14 June and will call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discuss important issues relating to Tamil Nadu,” an official release had said on 8 June. This will be Jayalalithaa’s first visit to the national capital since assuming the post for a second consecutive term in Tamil Nadu after her party AIADMK secured a thumping victory in the Assembly polls that concluded last month. Jayalalithaa, when she called on Modi on 3 June, 2014 immediately after he took over as Prime Minister, had flagged the state’s concerns over many issues including GST. A meeting between the two took place last August when Modi had visited Tamil Nadu. He called on Jayalalithaa at her Poes Garden residence breaking protocol and she had submitted a memorandum comprising several state specific requests to him.