The Congress will stage a protest in all district headquarters on December 17 to protest the 15 per cent power tariff hike, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president E.V.K.S. Elangovan has said.
Speaking to journalists on arrival at Mettupalayam on Sunday morning, he said that if the government did not withdraw the hike even thereafter, the party would consider intensifying the protest by asking people to not pay the tariff.
Mr. Elangovan was on his way to Ooty to participate in a function to unveil the statue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
He had proposed to take up with Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy the issue of his government employees denying Tamil Nadu engineers access to the Mullaperiyar Dam. Mr. Elangovan welcomed the deployment of Central forces to ensure that the engineers have access to the dam.
The Congress fully understood the stand of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on the Eelam Tamils issue. Both the parties were for the welfare of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, but the difference exists in the MDMK’s support of the LTTE, which is not acceptable to the Congress.
Mr. Elangovan said that the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest’s permission is only for a survey and not for a new dam per se. If the Union government were to allow the construction of a new dam, the Congress and the Tamils would stand united in opposing it .
D. Radhakrishnan writes from Udhagamandalam:
The Congress would not be a silent spectator if the welfare of the Tamils is affected on account of the recent developments on the Mullaperiyar and Cauvery fronts, Mr. Elangovan said.
He was speaking to presspersons after participating in a function organised to unveil the statue of Rajiv Gandhi here on Sunday.
When asked about law and order situation in the State, he replied that it was ‘at its worst.’ Mr. Elangovan said specifically criticised the poor arrangements made by the police in The Nilgiris for the public meeting which formed part of the unveiling ceremony.
