A day after the AIADMK government took credit for the Chennai Metro Rail Project, DMK working president and Leader of the Opposition M.K. Stalin on Monday claimed that it was during the erstwhile DMK regime that the seeds for the project were sown under the leadership of then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.
In a statement issued here, Mr. Stalin termed the claims by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu that the Metro Rail project took shape during the AIADMK regime as “lies”.
“Such lies are constantly peddled with the single motive of overshadowing the role of Kalaignar Karunanidhi in initiating his dream project for the city of Chennai. This time it is Mr. Palaniswami and Mr. Venkaiah Naidu, who have gone to the extent of mouthing a blatant lie that it was late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa who initiated this project,” Mr. Stalin said.
It was during the Cabinet Meeting on November 7, 2007, that the then DMK regime took a policy decision about the Chennai Metro Rail Project and went ahead with the project proposal of ₹14,600 crore, Mr. Stalin said.
He recalled a trip by him to Tokyo to secure funds for the CMRL from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).