Centre flags 'discrepancies' as Stalin accuses BJP of blocking metro rail for Tamil Nadu cities

A fresh flashpoint opened between the Centre and Tamil Nadu on Wednesday after Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin traded accusations over the rejection of metro rail proposals for Madurai and Coimbatore.

The exchange began after Mr. Stalin accused the Union government of rejecting Tamil Nadu’s metro plans on “flimsy grounds,” framing it as political discrimination. In a strongly worded post, he said: “The Union BJP government has denied Metro Rail for ‘Temple City’ Madurai and for ‘South India’s Manchester’, Coimbatore, on flimsy grounds. A government exists to serve people without bias. Yet the Union #BJP treats #TamilNadu’s democratic choice as a reason to take revenge.”

He added that while BJP-ruled states had metro access for smaller Tier-II cities, opposition-ruled Tamil Nadu was being held back. “Pushing such a political custom… is a disgraceful approach. Tamil Nadu, the land of #SelfRespect, will never accept such a distortion of federal principles,” he wrote, vowing that “Tamil Nadu will fight! Tamil Nadu will win!”

Responding directly, Khattar accused the Chief Minister of politicising what he described as a technical, procedure-driven issue under the Metro Policy 2017. “It is unfortunate that Hon’ble Chief Minister Thiru. Stalin has chosen to politicise and create controversy over the application of The Metro Policy 2017, which is a procedure designed to ensure that costly infrastructure projects such as Metro Rail Systems generate maximum benefit for the public,” he said.

He reminded that the Centre had approved Chennai Metro Phase-2 on October 3, 2024, calling it “the biggest ever sanctioned metro project” at ₹63,246 crore for 119 km. Mr. Khattar then detailed what he termed “discrepancies” in the Coimbatore and Madurai proposals, including inflated traffic projections, weak modal-shift assumptions, inadequate right-of-way at seven Coimbatore station locations, and a Comprehensive Mobility Plan that, for Madurai, “clearly stipulate[s] that with current ridership, BRTS is justifiable.”

He further flagged population and planning-area inconsistencies for Coimbatore, saying projected ridership shifts within a Local Planning Area “five times bigger than the CMC area… needs justification.”

The minister also criticised the state for skipping the Centre’s PM e-Bus Sewa scheme despite “repeated persuasion,” noting that Tamil Nadu had “not participated in this scheme so far.”

The political standoff now places Tamil Nadu’s two major metro ambitions squarely in the middle of a broader debate on federal fairness, technical scrutiny, and the politics of infrastructure in opposition-ruled states.