Union Minister of State for Power K.C. Venugopal on Saturday regretted that Home Minister P. Chidambaram had made an “unnecessary and baseless” comment on the political parties of Kerala on the Mullaperiyar dam controversy even as normality was returning in both States. Mr. Chidambaram should have refrained from making such comments which had “unnecessarily” created another controversy.
Talking to The Hindu over phone from his Lok Sabha constituency Alleppey, Mr. Venugopal refuted Mr. Chidambaram's allegation that the Kerala parties had kicked up the dam row keeping an eye on the by-poll from the Piravom Assembly (Ernakulam district) constituency.
“That is not an issue at all. We are concerned over the safety of the people living in and around the dam in the districts of Kerala.”
Why should Mr. Chidambaram, holding the Home portfolio, make such an “irresponsible” statement when the Central government and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were trying to find an amicable solution, he asked.
