Jayalalithaa accuses M Karunanidhi of conspiring' on prohibition issue

Kancheepuram: Alleging that the DMK manifesto does not promise “full prohibition”, Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, on Monday accused her archrival M. Karunanidhi of misleading people on the issue and “hatching a conspiracy” to allow private players in selling liquor in the state if his party comes to power.

Addressing an election rally on the town’s outskirts, she launched a frontal attack on Karunanidhi accusing him of working only towards the welfare of “his people”, a reference to his family, rather than the people of Tamil Nadu. “The DMK is not serious about implementing complete prohibition in Tamil Nadu. The DMK manifesto does not mention the word total prohibition. It just says the party would bring prohibition and that the state government would withdraw itself from the business (of selling liquor),” she said.

“He is hatching a conspiracy to allow private players in business of selling liquor and by launching pubs and bars where liquor will be sold. This seems to be the idea of Karunanidhi. This shows how committed the DMK is,” the CM said.
Claiming that the DMK has repeated several promises it made in their 2006 manifesto this time as well, Jayalalithaa said the Opposition party was “confused” as its manifesto still mentions it would urge the Centre to take steps to increase the height of Mullaperiyar dam from 136 to 142 feet.

“What is the use of exerting pressure on the Union Government to raise the water level to 142 feet when the Supreme Court itself had said the height of the dam can be increased to 152 feet? This shows the DMK and Karunanidhi are confused. That is why their manifesto has many repetitions. People should know who works for the people and who works for their people (family),” she said.

Devoting a major portion of her election speech to attacking DMK and Karunanidhi, the Chief Minister accused them of indulging in a “false campaign” about power cuts in the State when such a scenario does not exist. She also asked why no action has been taken against people who “burnt” three people alive in an office of a Tamil newspaper and why the then State government did not go on appeal of a trial court order which acquitted all accused in the murder of former DMK Minister T. Kirutinan.

“Karunanidhi works only for his people (his family). The then DMK Government in 2007 had launched Arasu Cable TV Corporation as a fallout of a family feud, but why did they put it on the backburner when the family feud was resolved,” she asked.

Punching holes in DMK’s pamphlets saying water from Chembarambakkam lake was opened at one go, she said her government had explained umpteen number of times that water was discharged only to permissible level.

“Despite that, the DMK continues to latch on to that point. The DMK manifesto promises so many things about flood management in Chennai. This shows that whatever they say is part of their false campaign,” she said.