The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : "Talks on dam issue an eyewash"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 06, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

"Talks on dam issue an eyewash"

Special Correspondent

FOLLOWING THEIR LEADER: Former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa coming out of the Assembly after signing the register at the Secretariat in Chennai on Tuesday. — Photo: V. Ganesan

CHENNAI: All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Jayalalithaa on Tuesday described the proposed talks between the Public Works Department Ministers and engineers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala on the Mullaperiyar issue as an "eyewash and a delaying tactic."

When the Chief Ministers of the two States were unable to arrive at an agreement, what could be achieved by the Public Works Ministers and officials, she asked, speaking to reporters at the Secretariat complex.

It was nothing but a "time-wasting exercise" aimed at hoodwinking people.

The Government missed a golden opportunity to raise the water level to 142 feet when it failed to lower the dam shutters when inflow was heavy due to torrential rain, she alleged.

On the exit of Shibu Soren from the Union Cabinet following the conviction in a murder case, Ms. Jayalalithaa said: "This could have been avoided." She wondered why he was re-inducted into the Ministry.

Invitations

As party general secretary, she had extended invitations to the Vice-President, the Prime Minister and the Congress president for the function on Thursday where Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee would unveil a statue of former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran at the Parliament complex.

She had also invited leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, including former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani, as permission to install the statue was given by the National Democratic Alliance Government.

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