The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : PMK to join govt at Centre

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 16, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

PMK to join govt at Centre

By A. V. Ragunathan

VILLUPURAM, MAY 15. The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) will participate in the Congress-led coalition government at the Centre, the founder-leader, S. Ramadoss, announced at a general body meeting at Thiruchitrambalam near here today.

Earlier, the party passed a resolution empowering him to take a decision on whether the party should join the Union Cabinet or not.

Addressing the meeting, Dr. Ramadoss, in turn, asked the members whether they wanted the party to seek berths in the Cabinet or not. Almost all members raised their hands in support of the PMK forming part of the government.

Dr. Ramadoss said the All-India Congress Committee leader, Kamal Nath, invited him to a meeting of leaders of the allies in New Delhi tomorrow. The PMK leader said he would "go to Delhi and bring success". Who would get ministerial posts would be decided at the meeting.

Call for Common Minimum Programme

The resolution said the new government must evolve a Common Minimum Programme. It should include Tamil as a classical language, 33 per cent reservation for women, guarantee of jobs, sanction of 69 per cent quota for backward classes and most backward classes and also reservation in the private sector.

The resolution noted that liberalisation, globalisation and privatisation and also disinvestment in public sector undertakings had severely affected the economy. Therefore, it called upon the new government to reverse the trend and bring about an economic revolution to ensure "education, health and jobs for all". The target for improving human resource must be raised to make India shine.

The meeting condemned the personal attacks made by the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, against the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, and leaders of the Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) during the Lok Sabha election campaign.

The PMK said "large-scale deletion of the names of voters was resorted to deliberately to mar DPA prospects". The Tamil Nadu Government must own full responsibility for such "irregularities."

The resolution noted that Chennai and almost all villages in the Tamil Nadu were facing acute water scarcity and suggested the setting of desalination plants wherever possible to convert sea water into potable water. On the Cauvery issue, the PMK called for implementation of the interim order of the Cauvery River Authority.

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