The Old Man and the Rice Arithmetic

In response to a question on the state of the TN economy, MK has given a slightly vague answer.

“It is how I am now”, was the cryptic reply by chief minister M Karunanidhi, to the newsmen who asked him about the state of the Tamil Nadu economy. If so, he must be very well, indeed. For though the CM refused to elaborate, despite being pressed for details, his smile said it all.

We all know that MK is far from being considered healthy (inspite of waking up early and doing yoga / walking and other stuff). He is almost like what Shankar Dayal Sharma was at one point of time. Are we to infer that the state economy is not in good shape?

Ever since the DMK’s poll manifesto was announced, there has been lot of speculation about the way it is going to be funded. Lot of questions were raised about the feasibility of the Rs. 2 a Kg rice scheme. Finance Minister P Chidambaram had lent credence to the DMK manifesto saying that such a scheme was feasible. However, PC didn’t comment on how it is going to be implemented and whether the Centre would provide subsidies for the same. Parties like BJP and MDMK had questioned whether the same scheme would be extended to other states. The parties kept up the pressure by posing the same question in the Rajya Sabha. As expected, PC has told the opposition parties to direct the question to MK.

At first, Mr. Chidambaram said the question should be addressed to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.However, Brinda Karat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and several others said he had gone on record justifying the promise and asked whether it was possible to implement it throughout the country.

"Mr. Chidambaram is not just an MP from Tamil Nadu, he is also the Finance Minister of the country. Why is it not possible to implement all over the country what has been given in Tamil Nadu," asked Ms. Karat.

The New Indian Express adds that PC has ruled out any central assistance and has put the onus on the DMK to deliver on their promise.

I feel that PC has carefully played around with words (saathiyam) to divert peoples attention and is now slowly finding a way to wriggle out of the controversy.