Hitting out at Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa over her walking out of the NDC meeting, DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Friday described as an "exaggeration" her statement that Tamil Nadu was humiliated at the meeting.
"The chief minister's speech (in text form) has appeared in newspapers today. It would have taken more than an hour if she had read out the entire speech," he said.
Jayalalithaa had walked out of the NDC meeting in Delhi on Thursday accusing the Centre of stifling the voice of states.
In a letter to his partymen, the 88 year-old leader asked what would happen if every other chief minister insisted on speaking like her (the full text).
"Therefore it is an exaggeration to say that Tamil Nadu was insulted. It is not a genuine allegation," he said.
He also slammed her when he said she was speaking at the NDC meeting yesterday in Delhi as if she was addressing a public meeting.
"Yesterday's meeting was held to finalise the draft of the 12th Five Year Plan. If one speaks on what should be changed or incorporated, the ten minutes would suffice. Instead, as if speaking in a public meeting, if one starts saying Centre did not do this or that, naturally the time would not be enough," the former chief Minister said.
{{/usCountry}}"Yesterday's meeting was held to finalise the draft of the 12th Five Year Plan. If one speaks on what should be changed or incorporated, the ten minutes would suffice. Instead, as if speaking in a public meeting, if one starts saying Centre did not do this or that, naturally the time would not be enough," the former chief Minister said.
{{/usCountry}}Even in the Assembly, a bell is rung to remind MLAs about the time constraints during debates, Karunanidhi, a key ally of UPA, said.