You asked, I gave: PM Modi; this is fresh request: CM Stalin

CHENNAI: After strongly urging the Union government to release funds without discrimination, Chief Minister MK Stalin also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in person and presented a short wish list for the welfare of Tamil Nadu.

Talking to media persons at Tamil Nadu House after the Niti Aayog meeting in Delhi, Stalin said, "After the Niti Aayog meeting, I sought five minutes with the PM. During the meeting, I personally urged him to fulfil the requests I presented during the Niti Aayog meeting."

Besides the release of SSA funds, the Chief Minister asked the PM to sanction the proposed Metro Rail projects for Coimbatore and Madurai, and the Coimbatore airport expansion. "I also urged him to expedite the transfer of MRTS to Chennai Metro Rail, implement the Chengalpattu–Tindivanam road project as an eight-lane project, establish an AIIMS in Coimbatore, accommodate converted Dalit Christians into the SC list, and retrieve Tamil Nadu fishermen’s boats from Sri Lanka."

Asked about the PM’s response, Stalin said, "What will he say? Will he say no? He will say yes. Let us see if he fulfils or not." On whether he was confident of the Union government fulfilling his requests, Stalin said, "Already they withheld funds for CMRL phase–II. I urged him. He fulfilled it later. PM said, ‘you asked, I fulfilled’. I told him I have raised demands now and he must fulfill them now."

Downplaying the Opposition’s criticism linking his Delhi visit to the ED raids in the Tasmac case, Stalin clarified that he neither has a white flag nor a saffron flag, unlike Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami.

Reacting to a specific query on Palaniswami attributing his Delhi visit to the raids, Stalin said, "EPS said I am waving white flag. Unlike him, I neither have a white flag nor a saffron flag." On the increasing frequency of ED raids in Tamil Nadu, Stalin said, "They are political in nature. We will face them in the way they must be faced."

Asked about the Opposition calling out the alleged Tasmac and sand mining scams, he said, "They are lies and fraud and unnecessary campaigns run against us. The ministers concerned have denied them. The Opposition is doing it deliberately. They will do more close to the elections. We are ready to face it."

Breaking his silence on the Supreme Court’s interim order staying ED probe into the Tasmac case, he said, "It is a just order."

Regarding the meeting with Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, the DMK president said, "It was a courtesy meeting. Whenever I visit Delhi, I never fail to meet him. We also discussed politics, I don't deny that."

Meanwhile, the photographs of seemingly harmonious exchanges between Modi and Stalin in the presence of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu raised a few eyebrows back home in Tamil Nadu.