Chennai: On her first visit to New Delhi on Tuesday after her victory in May 16 Assembly elections, Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa will meet the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss issues relating to Tamil Nadu, especially generous financial assistance from the Centre and release of seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
Though the BJP is pinning its hopes on the meeting between the two leaders to induct AIADMK into the NDA, Jayalalithaa, sources said, seems more interested in getting funds for the State, whose debt is more than '2 lakh crore, and an assurance on establishment of the long-pending Cauvery Management Board (CMB).
Her special aircraft is likely to take off for New Delhi around 11.30 pm and touch down at Indira Gandhi International Airport around 2 pm, where she will be welcomed by all 50 MPs of AIADMK. From the airport, she will drive to the Tamil Nadu House for a brief stay.
During the meeting that is expected around 4.30 pm at 7, Race Course residence of the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister would raise the issue of Tamil Nadu fishermen being apprehended frequently by Sri Lankan Navy and retrieval of Katchatheevu from the island nation.
She and the AIADMK have been demanding that the Union Government retrieve the Katchatheevu island, which was ceded to Sri Lanka in the 1970s. The Chief Minister is also expected to point out to the Prime Minister that it has been more than three years since the Centre notified the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) on sharing waters of Cauvery among Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry, but the CMB had not been established.
During her meeting, Jayalalithaa is also expected to seek “generous financial assistance” from the Centre to fund several projects of the state Government. After the meeting with Modi, senior Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari and Nirmala Sitharaman are expected to call on her at the Tamil Nadu House.
