Chennai, April 17 -- Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M.K. Stalin on Monday the slammed the BJP-led government at the Centre for undermining the States and systematically eroding their powers by taking control of subjects listed in the Concurrent List over the past ten years.

In a strongly worded letter titled "Why is State Autonomy Necessary?" in a Tamil daily, Mr Stalin voiced his deep concern over what he described as an alarming centralisation of power.

Alleging that the Centre was attempting to turn state governments into powerless administrative units that merely execute instructions from New Delhi, he said the BJP government wants to reduce state governments to rubber stamps-entities without legislative authority,...