By Our Special Correspondent
An all-party meeting called by the Center on Tuesday to discuss the Sri Lankan crisis turned confrontational as the government tried to draw parallels between the island state's economic crisis and the poor economic situation in opposition-ruled states.
Led by Tamil Nadu, MPs from other states launched a counterattack against the Centre. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and senior officials of the Finance Department addressed the meeting.
Jaishankar pointed out that the economic crisis was the main reason behind the political crisis and said that the culture of freebies had affected the economic health of Lanka.
During a presentation by Union Finance Secretary Ajay Seth on Lanka's economic woes, several opposition-ruled states, including Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, called for spending more than their revenues and their poor debt-GDP ratio.
“Tamil Nadu pushed back asking the government not to use this forum for such discussion. Telangana and Andhra supported Tamil Nadu," Kesha Rao (TRS) told this newspaper.
He said the opposition has asked the Center not to single out states as India's own debt-to-GDP ratio is around 59%, down from less than 50% a few years ago.
Other parties like Trinamool, AAP and Congress also attacked the Centre. PV Midhun Reddy (YSRC) said that the Center should not compare states with other countries. If a comparison has to be drawn, it should be between two countries.
Congress MP from Tamil Nadu Manikam Tagore said that the Center had made several opposition-ruled states, including Punjab and West Bengal, look bad after which all major opposition leaders had told the Center not to attack the states.
Jaishankar said it was natural to worry about the spillover of the crisis, but termed it a "misinformation comparison" as some said a similar situation could arise in India.
In this meeting, which was attended by representatives of 28 political parties including Congress, Left parties and DMK, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar rejected the suggestions of a similar situation arising in India.
"The ball is in the court of Sri Lanka and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and they are negotiating. They want an agreement, and then we (India) will see what kind of supporting role we can play," Jaishankar said after the meeting.
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