CM Vijay Returns to Chennai, Without Meeting Rahul Gandhi in Delhi
TN CM Vijay met PM Modi and discussed matters concerning the state, including the Mekedatu dam issue, fishermen arrests and the Tamil invocation song row
Chennai: Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay cut short his visit to New Delhi and returned to Chennai on Thursday without meeting the Congress leaders, who were reportedly busy with managing the leadership transition in Karnataka.
Congress sources said that the meetings with Congress top brass, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, had been deferred and not cancelled and that Vijay would be calling on the leaders during his next visit to the national capital to attend the Niti Aayog meeting that is expected to happen in June.
During the two-day stay in the national capital, Vijay met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and raised a slew of serious issues confronting Tamil Nadu.
Among the issues discussed were the Union Home Ministry directing the singing of the national song ‘Vante Matharam’ at the start of every government function before the rendering of the State anthem, ‘Neerarum Kadaludutha.’
Vijay urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to not allow Karnataka to construct a dam across River Cauvery at Mekedatu in violation of final orders of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and the Supreme Court judgment on the dispute.
He told Modi that the announcement for the conduct of ‘bhoomi puja’ for the Mekedatu reservoir by Karnataka had caused deep concern among the farmers in Tamil Nadu and wanted permission to be denied by the Jal Sakhti Ministry and Central Water Resources Commission for the dam without the consent of the river basin States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.
He appealed to the Prime Minister to set up the Centre for Airborne System (CABS) and the facility for designing Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) in Tamil Nadu as the DRDO was holding discussions on it for quite some time and thanked Modi for the repatriation of the Annaimangalam copper plates that were held by the Leiden University during his last visit to The Netherlands.
Drawing the Prime Minister’s attention to the problems faced by fishermen from Tamil Nadu, who were regularly arrested and tormented by the Sri Lankan navy when they venture into the Palk Straits for fishing, he said that in 2026 alone 12 such incidents had taken place and 58 fishermen were languishing in custody.
Besides the liberty of those 58 fishermen in Sri Lankan custody, the Prime Minister should also ensure the release of the 266 seized boats, he said.
He also had a discussion with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman.
