BY NIRMALA JOSEPH

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister MK Stalin made an impressive entry on the national stage at the chief ministers' conference in New Delhi last week, ruling DMK sources claimed on Monday.

Stalin met various leaders, including Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi and presented the speeches of his father and Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at the conclave convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Even as several non-Congress chief ministers including Gujarat's Narendra Modi and Kerala's VS Achutanandan attacked the Centre for spiralling prices, Stalin took a creative approach, asking for a maximum retail price for essential food items.

"The union government may consider imposing upper ceiling on the retail prices of some essential commodities like sugar and tur dal under Section 3A of the Essential Commodities Act," Stalin said at the conference.

He said the central and the state governments should take commodity-specific measures to control prices of essential items like sugar, pulses, oil and vegetables.

"State government undertakings should also be allowed to import essential commodities," Stalin said while highlighting the major points of Karunanidhi's address.

On Sunday, Stalin said at the internal security meeting that the central government "has not fully realised" the "sensitivity" of India's maritime boundary with Sri Lanka and should accord it equal significance as the country's other land and sea borders.

"The sensitivity of this border with Sri Lanka has not been fully realised. Better co-ordination and exchange of information between various central and state agencies will avert many unsavoury incidents involving our fishermen and the Sri Lankan navy," Stalin said.

It is for this reason the entire manpower cost of securing the maritime boundary should be borne by the Indian government, he said.

Stalin also opposed the Centre's proposal for the blanket transfer to the Central Bureau of Investigation of all cases relating to fake currency notes, saying this should be in consultation and on a case-to-case basis.