Delhi Confidential: On The Spot

Amid the tussle over the three-language policy between Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK and the Centre, some senior ministers appeared to be walking the extra mile for the party’s MPs in Lok Sabha on Tuesday. During Question Hour, DMK’s Tharaniventhan M S expressed concern over “failures of the online payment system” for the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan assured the MP that the state minister could approach him on this. Otherwise, said Chouhan, he could himself visit Tamil Nadu to look into the matter. “We salute the great people of Tamil Nadu, we salute the Tamil culture, the Tamil language. We are all children of Mother India and there is no question of discrimination. We will serve the people of Tamil Nadu, its farmers, with humility,” Chouhan said.

Helping Hand

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, along with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, held a meeting with MPs from the state in New Delhi on Tuesday. The Governor is learnt to have surprised the MPs and the Chief Minister by saying he was aware of the problems faced by the state, and that he would stand with Vijayan in raising these demands before the Union government. Arlekar’s predecessor, Arif Mohammed Khan, had an uneasy relationship with the Left government in Kerala.