Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has responded to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over a dispute on the State’s incentive payment for paddy farmers.
Stalin said he had referred to a letter sent by the Union ministry to the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary, which, according to him, clearly asked the State to reconsider the incentive amount paid over and above the minimum support price (MSP).
At a campaign meeting in Thanjavur, Stalin had claimed that the Centre had sent a letter asking Tamil Nadu to stop the incentive for paddy. Sitharaman rejected the allegation, stating that announcing any bonus or incentive above MSP has always been within the State government’s authority and that no one had taken that power away.
In his statement, Stalin maintained that he did not speak beyond what was written in the letter and said there was no need to talk about anything that was not there. He added that the letter also mentioned reviewing the continuation of such incentives.
Stalin further said that if Sitharaman’s claim was true, she should be ready to release the letter to the public.
