PC, Centre Indifferent: Jaya

CHENNAI: In yet another swipe against the Congress-led UPA for not releasing adequate funds to speed up cyclone relief work, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday criticised Union Minister P Chidambaram and the Central government for being ‘indifferent’ towards the State.When CPI legislator M Arumugam described the Centre’s relief of `500 crore as too little when Tamil Nadu had sought `5,000 crore, Jayalalithaa intervened and quipped that even this amount was released only after the State had released advertisements in newspapers seeking contributions to (CM’s Relief Fund) take up relief work.Stating that right from day one the State had been repeatedly seeking funds from the Centre for relief, she noted that there was no response. Hence, the State government allotted whatever was possible - `850 crore - and started relief work.“After this, advertisements were released seeking funds to take up cyclone relief. I do not know if the Centre felt embarrassed or not, it announced an assistance of `500 crore on the very same day’s noon when advertisements were given,” she said amid thumping of desks by ruling party members.At this, Congress member NR Rengarajan said it was only an interim relief and that the State unit of his party had appealed for more funds. Jayalalithaa intervened and said that she was not faulting the Congress MLAs of Tamil Nadu.“You are elected from here and would like to help the State to get more funds. I would only like to point out that the Centre and Union Minister P Chidambaram, who is elected from here, are indifferent,” she said.