Chennai:
While the rise in price of sugar is giving a headache to Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, in Tamil Nadu the low procurement price paid to sugarcane farmers is giving a headache to Chief Minister M Karunandhi.
And taking up the farmers cause is All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief Jayalalithaa. For the first time in 10 years, she led a protest outside Chennai.
It was Jayalalithaa's return to grass root politics in rural Tamil Nadu.
The state government's sugarcane procurement price is perhaps the lowest- just over Rs 1400 for a tonne. But Jayalalithaa wants almost double - Rs 2500.
"Every drop of tear shed by sugarcane farmer is an indication of the end game of the DMK. The flame of their frustration would destroy the DMK," she said.
For cadres, it's a Valentine Day's gift. After AIADMK's poor performance at successive by polls, cadre morale was low.
"It's never too late. All the wrong things this government is doing, madam has come to set it right," said Bader Sayeed, an AIADMK MLA.
"She did not do anything, and now demanding Rs 2000 or 2500 for a ton is cheating farmers," said Tamil Nadu Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S Arumugham.
Although Assembly polls are a year away in Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa is clearly on an election mode. And her cadres now expect more such fireworks in the months to come.