Free power issue: Centre functions like a usurer and thinks states must be its slaves, Stalin says

CHENNAI: A day after Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi opposing scrapping of free power to farmers in Tamil Nadu, DMK president M K Stalin on Tuesday said the Centre is functioning like a usurer. The Centre thinks that states must be its slaves even during a situation like the lockdown, Stalin said.
In a statement, Stalin said the chief minister should not keep quiet after writing a letter. “He must pressurise the Centre,” Stalin said.
“The AIADMK government must not agree to the Centre’s decision of scrapping the free power scheme to farmers. It must not accept any condition to get funds from the Centre during the lockdown,” he said.
Recalling the way the free power scheme was implemented for all farmers by former chief minister M Karunanidhi, Stalin said Tamil Nadu was the first state to implement it.
“In the name of special package, the central government has been privatising all public sector undertakings. While stating that state governments will get more loans, the Centre set conditions that free power scheme to farmers must be scrapped,” Stalin said.
He further added, the farmers were already suffering without any funds and were under heavy debt. “What Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said about the free power scheme for farmers is against federalism,” he said.
“The state government should postpone all schemes that were announced in the budget, including the tenders floated by state highways department for maintaining roads in various districts,” the DMK president said.
MDMK chief Vaiko said the chief minister, who claims to be from a farmer's family, must not allow the Centre to scrap free power to farmers.