Tuesday, Apr 22, 2003
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By Our Special Correspondent
Submitting a nine-page memorandum to the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, here the delegation consisting of 21 MPs highlighted nine issues based on which they asserted that the State was in "utter turmoil". The delegation led by the Union Ministers, T.R. Baalu, included N.T. Shanmugam, Gingee N. Ramachandran, A. Raja, A.K. Moorthy, among others. Sources in the delegation later said that the Prime Minister, assured them he would take it up with the State Government. It is understood that the memorandum has been sent to the Union Home Ministry which would seek a report from the Tamil Nadu Government. The memorandum said there was no rule of law in Tamil Nadu with "apathy, bitterness and agony" enveloping all sections of society. It alleged that the Opposition members were being threatened with fabricated cases as and when they raise issues of public importance. They said that almost all Opposition MLAs were forcibly evicted from the Assembly when they raised an issue. "The tyrannical acts perpetuated by the ruling party MLAs at the winking of their leader and Chief Minister dominate proceedings every day'', the memorandum said. They said there had been indictment by Constitutional authorities and referred to a Madras High Court observation during March this year recommending the imposition of a financial emergency since the State Government had not provided adequate staff and funds for the courts. Claiming that people from all walks of life were suffering, they said that while the Government servants were struggling, and the Government had no money to pay them, it said Rs. 500 crores would be raised for the construction of a new secretariat by demolishing the 90-year-old Queen Mary's College. The delegation alleged that the Chief Minister used transfer of Government servants as a "potent weapon'' who offered any "meaningful suggestion" which was different from that of the Chief Minister. Turning to the Cauvery river water dispute, they held the Chief Minister responsible and said the water disputes with Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh were complicated because of the "confrontationist attitude" of the State Government. The delegation said the press and media were "being intimidated" and the Government had invoked POTA even against R. Gopal, Editor of a Tamil bi-weekly Nakkeeran. The arrest of M.K. Stalin was also underlined. On the arrest of the MDMK chief, Vaiko under POTA, the MPs said they were "extremely agitated over the continued inaction of the Central Government" over the "political vendetta unleashed" by the Tamil Nadu Government in the last two years. They also referred to the midnight arrests of the former Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, and two Union Ministers, Murasoli Maran and Mr. Baalu. The signatories to the memorandum included S.S. Palanimanickam. S. Viduthalai Virumbi, E. Ponnuswamy, C. Krishnan, P.D. Elangovan, M. Sankaralingam, D. Venugopal, S. Sivasubramaniam, R. Shanmugasundaram, M. Durai, A. Krishnaswamy, M.A. Kadar, A.K.S. Vijayan, V. Vetriselvan, R. Sarathkumar and Adhisankar.
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