DMK, allies list demands for Centre

With Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu two years away, main Opposition party DMK, which is itching to get back to power, today convened a mee...

With Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu two years away, main Opposition party DMK, which is itching to get back to power, today convened a meeting of MPs of the UPA in the state and presented a list of 11 demands to the Centre for ‘‘immediate implementation’’.

Stepping up pressure on the Centre to top-prioritise TN with respect to infrastructure projects, the DMK decided to form a seven-member committee of MPs from the alliance parties, which would liase with various ministries and monitor progress of the implementation of the demands.

The meeting attended by Union Ministers P. Chidambaram, T.R. Baalu and over 35 MPs focussed only on the state’s infrastructure needs and, belying expectations, skirted the controversy over the demand for change of Governor P.S. Ramamohan Rao.

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‘‘We have not placed any demand for the change of Governor. If others make an issue of it, how can I be responsible?’’ DMK chief Karunanidhi said.

And obviously, the key demand of DMK and its allies concerned the Cauvery waters. The Centre should ensure that the Cauvery River Water Tribunal delivers its final award, the MPs insisted.

	Don’t repeat Uma mess: Karunanidhi tells Congress

			• Chennai: DMK president M. Karunanidhi on Tuesday told the Congress that it should avoid the repeat of the ‘‘mistake’’ in launching and later ‘‘hurriedly’’ withdrawing the prosecution against Uma Bharati. ‘‘Why launch a prosecution against Uma Bharati in a half-hearted way and then retreat in haste?’’ he said at a public meeting organised to showcase UPA achievements. These ‘‘shortcomings’’ would have to be avoided in order to successfully fight fascist forces, he said. Agreeing with the Karnataka CPI’s statement that the Uma Bharati issue had ‘‘not been properly handled’’, Karunanidhi said, it had led even former PM A.B.Vajpayee to declare that Uma Bharti would be the party’s key campaigner. Leaders of the DMK’s allies including state Congress chief G.K.Vasan were present at the meeting. Karunanidhi also asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to advise the Karnataka government not to go ahead with plans to get the Cauvery Tribunal reconstituted. — ENS

In a bid to counter the moves by the Karnataka government to get the Tribunal reconstituted, the DMK and its allies said the Centre should take all steps to ‘‘thwart such plans’’.

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‘‘If the Tribunal is reconstituted, it will tantamount to breaking an earthenware painstakingly created through years of sweat and struggle,’’ Karunanidhi said.

The meeting also urged the Centre to take steps on the issue of fishing rights for TN fishermen in Katchatheevu. Next on the list was the linking of southern peninsular rivers in the first phase and creation of a south zone gas grid.

There was a list of demands for Railway Minister Laloo Yadav, too. The ongoing gauge conversion projects should be speeded up and new unigauge work taken up on the Dindigul-Chamraj Nagar, Salem-Karur and Chennai-Tirunelveli sectors, the MPs said.

Conspicuous by his absence at the meeting was Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, who had drawn flak from the DMK chief over his Savarkar remark.

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