At the heart of the row is a letter sent by the Union Expenditure Secretary to the Chief Secretary on January 9, asking the State government to consider discontinuing the bonus given to paddy. After Stalin raised this during his Assembly election campaign, Nirmala on Sunday alleged that he was raising a factually baseless and politically motivated allegation.

Strongly criticising Nirmala’s contention on Monday, Stalin termed her response on the issue a "blatant lie". “I have not stated anything that is not present in that letter. Nor is there any need for me to. While you have stated… that it is up to the State governments to consider bonus above MSP to paddy farmers and nobody has taken away such rights, the letter sent to us clearly asked us - to review the existing bonus policy of the State Government and consider discontinuing the bonus on paddy,” he said.

It was then Nirmala’s turn, and she doubled down with a social media post, sharing the letter that the central official had sent to states. Instead of welcoming the move to promote pulses, millets, and oil seeds as “any Chief Minister with even a passing commitment to national interest”, Stalin chose to distort a constructive suggestion into a “manufactured grievance”, she alleged. “Because for the DMK, India's strategic requirements are not a concern, they are an opportunity to score political points,” Nirmala said.

The matter, as expected, did not end there. Questioning the explanation that Nirmala gave, Stalin said if her claims were true, she only had to release the letter without any explanation. “That alone would have been enough for people to understand the truth. Instead, by providing a long justification along with the letter, she has only exposed her own falsehood," he added.