Cauvery row: Jayalalithaa castigates Cong, BJP

CHENNAI - Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Friday castigated both the Congress and the BJP “for betraying the interests of Tamil Nadu and favouring Karnataka” on the Cauvery Water Dispute and stressed the need for the AIADMK winning all the forty seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls to create a government that would listen to the justified demands of Tamil Nadu.

“We should realize the goal that tomorrow is ours and all forty are ours and the party cadre should strive hard to achieve it,” she said while presiding over 65 marriages organised in connection with her 65th birthday, which will fall later this month.

Ms Jayalalithaa said the two national parties -- Congress and the BJP -- had a taken a stand in favour of Karnataka because they could not even dream of forming a government in Tamil Nadu even if they bent over backwards.

She said winning all 40 seats was vital to make Tamil Nadu the numero uno state in the country; to ensure that the Cauvery Delta region did not turn into a desert; to secure Tamil Nadu’s rights; to give shape to her visions; to ensure that Tamils' voice was heard in Delhi and to set up a government that would listen to the state's justified demands.

Ms Jayalalithaa said after she had assumed the Chief Minister’s office for the third time and was handling crises and challenges, the Centre was betraying the state's interests.

“It is denying our quota of kerosene and electricity. Financial assistance for the state is either denied of delayed. Arasu Cable TV Corporation cannot get licence for its operation and the Centre is not allowing us to lay electric lines through forest areas and we could get permission only after approaching the Court,” she said.

Ms Jayalalithaa said the Centre was not interested in notifying the final order of the Cauvery Water Tribunal and both the Congress and the BJP stood by Karnataka on the issue because they had stakes there and could not form a government in Tamil Nadu.

“What is agonizing is that a selfish person, harping on Tamil and Tamil culture, is enjoying power at the Centre and playing second fiddle to it,” she said, in an indirect reference to DMK president M. Karunanidhi. However, her government was able to overcome all obstacles and record achievements.

She said her government had announced compensation of Rs 15,000 per acre for farmers in the Delta region and it was an unprecedented gesture.

“Even the opposition parties have appreciated our gesture. In the last 20 months we have implemented many schemes, which remain a model for other states,” she said.

The Chief Minister pointed out though Karnataka refused to release water, her government approached the Supreme Court and got a direction for release of 60 TMC ft.

“We have upheld the rights of the state. Similarly, we have succeeded in getting a direction from the Supreme Court for notifying the order of the Cauvery Water Tribunal. These outcomes bear testimony to the tenacity of our government,” she said.

Those who got married on the occasion included the daughter of PWD minister K.V. Ramalingam and the son of former Minister R.S. Raja Kannappan.