AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Tuesday challenged the BJP to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court in a pending case seeking the retrieval of Katchatheevu, filed by former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, stating that the ceding of the island would be ‘reconsidered’.
No party except the AIADMK had any authority to speak about Katchatheevu, Mr. Palaniswami said.
Speaking at a public meeting in Krishnagiri, he said that in 1974, when Katchatheevu was ceded, the Congress was the ruling party at the Centre and the DMK was ruling the State. The two parties had jointly ceded the islet. The only person who fought for the islet and its retrieval was Jayalalithaa, he said.
“The AIADMK leader (late Chief Minister) had filed a revenue case in the Supreme Court in 2011 seeking the retrieval of Katchatheevu,” he pointed out.
“If the BJP was really serious about the islet, it should have filed an affidavit in the pending case, and the Union government should openly state that the ceding of the islet will be reconsidered,” he said. After whiling away the time for 10 years, the BJP has suddenly taken up the Katchatheevu issue for political expediency, eyeing the votes of fisherfolk,” he alleged.
Launching an attack on the DMK government, Mr. Palaniswami claimed that the State had become a den of narcotics, and that those involved in the drug trade were shielded by those in power. He also brandished an undated photograph of alleged drug racket kingpin Jaffar Sadiq with Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, and claimed that the DMK was in cahoots with smugglers.
“A puppet Chief Minister, an untalented Chief Minister is ruling the State; there is a law and order crisis in the State,” Mr. Palaniswami claimed, adding that the people should teach the DMK a fitting lesson.
