Is Congress trying to woo Jayalalithaa via water grant?

In a move to apparently woo All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, Congress leader and Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has offered an additional grant of over Rs 93 crore to her government, under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme.

In a letter written to the CM, Ramesh mentions that the state government had utilised 60 per cent of the over Rs 273 crore allocated under the NRDWP.

The minister is expected to further discuss this matter with Jayalalithaa during his visit to Chennai later.

Ramesh will be the first Union minister who will meet the Tamil Nadu chief minister for a courtesy call at the secretariat, since her party swept the polls in May last year.

Incidentally, Ramesh is considered to be close to Jayalalithaa.

The letter of grant is being interpreted in political circles as a step by the Congress to woo the AIADMK, with an eye on the Lok Sabha polls scheduled in 2014.

Though the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a major ally in the Congress-ruled United Progressive Alliance at the Centre, the relationship between the two parties has been rocky for a while.