The Hindu : National : "Jayalalithaa's statement totally incorrect"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 31, 2005

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National

"Jayalalithaa's statement totally incorrect"

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 30. The Congress today described as ``totally incorrect'' the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa's statement that the Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, was ``hindering the flow of assistance from the Centre to the State'' instead of providing genuine assistance to the tsunami-ravaged State.

Fielding questions at the party's briefing here on Ms. Jayalalithaa's detailed statement — issued on Tuesday in reaction to ``allegations'' made by Mr. Chidambaram against the State Government — the Congress spokesperson, Jayanthi Natarajan, said: ``Ms. Jayalalithaa herself had welcomed and praised the steps taken by the Prime Minister and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government.''

The Congress spokesperson also quoted Ms. Jayalalithaa as stating that the Centre had responded positively to the State Government's requests after the tsunami struck its coast on December 26 last.

``The UPA Government acted with speed and sensitivity,'' she asserted.

Assembly boycott

As for the Congress legislators' decision to boycott the Tamil Nadu Assembly for a week and whether this was not tantamount to hypocrisy given the party's criticism of the National Democratic Alliance for disrupting proceedings in Parliament, Ms. Natarajan said: ``The Chief Minister had made some highly objectionable remarks against senior leaders of the UPA from Tamil Nadu. Also, the Opposition is not being allowed to speak in the Assembly. So, the legislators have decided to boycott the proceedings; they are not disrupting the House.''

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