‘By stating that the issue would be discussed with the new Karnataka government, is Karunanidhi admitting that the state is vested with the right of deciding a project of our State? He should not have spoken of putting on hold the project,’ she said, adding that this amounted to betraying the interest of the Tamil people. ‘So, he should resign.’_____________________________
(April 08, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Charging Chief Minister M Karunanidhi with ‘failing’ the people on the Hogenekkal Water Project, AIADMK chief and Opposition Leader Jayalalithaa demanded his immediate resignation.
After leading a walkout of AIADMK members in the State Assembly during question hour after denial of permission by Speaker R Avidaiyappan over moving a special adjournment motion, she told reporters that resolutions were unanimously passed on 27 March (by Local Administration Minister M K Stalin) and on 1 April 1 (by Karunanidhi) for implementation of the project.
‘But on 5 April, even when the Assembly session was on, the Chief Minister issued a unilateral statement, saying that the project had been put on hold till a new popular government was elected in Karnataka,’ she said.
‘While Karunanidhi in a public meeting and in the Assembly categorically asserted that the project would be implemented at any cost, he retracted from his earlier statement by stating that the project would be put on hold. He did this without convening the Cabinet or consulting all parties on 5 April,’ she said.
‘By stating that the issue would be discussed with the new Karnataka government, is Karunanidhi admitting that the state is vested with the right of deciding a project of our State? He should not have spoken of putting on hold the project,’ she said, adding that this amounted to betraying the interest of the Tamil people. ‘So, he should resign.’
Further, she said there is a need for a government in the State ‘with a strong political will’. Earlier, she said the late Chief Minister Kamaraj first proposed the scheme in 1965. AIADMK founder and late Chief Minister M G Ramachandran had named it Kamaraj plan project when he wanted to implement it in 1986, she said, adding that it has been a 40 year long dream of the people of Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts.
Continuing her criticism against the DMK government, Jayalalithaa alleged that Stalin had moved the resolution on 27 March only as a counter to the AIADMK’s protest demonstration, then underway at Hogenakkal.
Though Karnataka BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa had staged a protest at Hogenakkal on March 16, the Chief Minister kept quiet for about 10 days on the issue, she charged.
‘The people of the State are shocked and angry over the Chief Minister’s announcement, putting on hold the project till a new government assumes office in Karnataka. It will affect the right of the people of Tamilnadu,’ she said, while recalling the State-wide protest against Karnataka’s opposition to the project.
‘The Chief Minister had also said that the new government in Karnataka would understand that justice is on our side (on implementing the project), a statement which again is unacceptable,’ she said and wondered what the connection was between elections in Karnataka and the drinking water scheme in Tamilnadu.
‘We don’t need their concern,’ she said, in an emotive tone. She also recollected that in 1990, officials from Tamilnadu had agreed for the Bangalore water project from the Cauvery, following which Karnataka agreed for the Hogenakkal project.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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