CHENNAI: Hours after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa wrote to Manmohan Singh requesting him to stop work at Koodankulam nuclear power plant on Monday, the Prime Minister called her up and sought guidance on the issue since she “was the most intelligent Chief Minister in India.”The Prime Minister also informed her that he would be sending Union Minister of State V Narayanasamy for holding talks with the agitating people and requested the Chief Minister to make arrangements for the same.During her conversation with Singh, the Chief Minister explained that the agitation against the Koodankulam atomic power project, which started with around 100 persons, grew day by day and now, more than one lakh people were participating in it. Earlier in the day, Jayalalithaa had shot off a letter to the Prime Minister asking for works at the power plant to be halted till the Centre allayed fears of the residents, who were on a hunger strike. Jayalalithaa said that it was natural for the residents to raise such concerns in the wake of the meltdown of Fukushima nuclear reactor in Japan following a devastating tsunami.She alleged that the Centre had abdicated its responsibility in this case. She had also said that an all-party delegation headed by Finance Minister O Panneerselvam would be meeting the PM with a memorandum on the issue. The memorandum would be signed by her, she said and requested the leaders of all like-minded parties as well as the representatives of the fasting residents to sign on it and accompany the delegation to meet the PM.During the telephonic conversation, when the Jayalalithaa sought an appointment with the PM for the delegation, Singh told her that he would be meeting them upon his return to New Delhi on September 27 after attending the session of the United Nations General Assembly at New York.At the end of the conversation, the PM once again sought her guidance in the issue while the CM thanked the Prime Minister for his cooperation.
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