REFUGEE

Jayalalithaa
CHENNAI: All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Jayalalithaa on Sunday asked Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to quit, alleging that he had failed to take any pre-emptive step to stop Kerala from conducting a survey for a new dam in place of the Mullaperiyar dam.

In a statement here, she described as a slap in the Chief Minister’s face, the Supreme Court turning down the Tamil Nadu government’s plea for a stay of the permission granted to the Kerala government to conduct the survey.

Alleging that there was “considerable duplicity” in every move that Mr. Karunanidhi made on the Mullaperiyar issue, she said that due to her efforts the Supreme Court had allowed the storage level to be increased to 142 feet from 136 feet, the Chief Minister had done nothing on the issue.

She quoted Kerala Water Resources Minister N.K. Premachandran to support her argument that the Chief Minister did not bother to take any step to prevent the Kerala government from going ahead with the survey. Mr. Premachandran had said the survey had begun as early as in 2007 and that Tamil Nadu had moved the Supreme Court at this stage as a result of pressure by Opposition parties.

Ms. Jayalalithaa alleged that Mr. Karunanidhi was not concerned about what the new dam would do to farmers and others in five border districts in Tamil Nadu, who depend on it for drinking and farming needs.

“He was not prepared to use his clout with the Centre for the benefit of the people of the State,” she added. “Yet, when elections are held, he would like to claim that he is the saviour of the people of Tamil Nadu and that it was the Supreme Court, the Central government and the State of Kerala that had jointly conspired to cheat the people of Tamil Nadu of their legitimate rights,” she said.