The Newshour Debate: J Jayalalithaa walks out of NDC meet (Part 1 of 2)

In a debate moderated by TIMES NOW's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, panelists -- Siddharth Nath Singh, Spokesperson, BJP; Khusboo, Leader, DMK; Naresh Gujral, MP Rajya Sabha, SAD; Dr. Manoj Jha, Spokesperson, RJD; Prof PV Indiresan, Fmr Director IIT, Madras -- discuss the issue whether TN CM Jayalalithaa was right in walking off CMs' meeting when not allowed to speak beyond 10 min.

The walkout by TN CM J Jayalalithaa from the National Development Council (NDC) meeting in New Delhi on Thursday (Dec 27) for not being granted enough time to complete her speech evoked mixed reaction from various political leaders. Jayalalithaa had walked out of the meeting accusing the Centre of "stifling" the voice of CMs by restricting their speeches to 10 mins and saying it was a "big humiliation" for her to be stopped from completing her speech at the meeting. CMs of non-UPA ruledstates alleged that Centre's policies had slowed down the country's growth and that their voice was being ignored. Jaya faulted the centre over several issues, like economic policies and FDI in multi-brand retail, and accused it of ignoring suggestions put forth by states by adopting "big brotherly and undemocratic approach". She said the Manmohan Singh govt was "caught up in the daily squabbles of its constituents" and "is merely trying to survive from day-to-day" as a result of which it has "neither the time nor the inclination to pay attention" to the problems of the people of this country. Jayal, along with WB CM Mamata Banerjee, UP CM Akhilesh Yadav, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi and CMs of other BJP-ruled states used the forum of NDC to criticise the Centre over allocation of funds and resources. BJP CMs Narendra Modi and Shivraj Singh Chouhan came out in support of Jaya. Modi said it was the govt which had requested for limiting the time to 10 mins. When asked if 10 minutes were enough to put forth a state's viewpoint, Modi laughed, saying "The less they hear, the better