Swamy for Jayalalithaa holding talks with Chandy

‘Agitation for or against dam should be called off in the two States'

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa should write to her Kerala counterpart, Oommen Chandy, expressing her willingness to hold talks on the Mullaperiyar dam issue, Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy said here on Monday.

As the person responsible for getting an order from the Supreme Court to raise the dam level from 136 feet to 142 feet, he had the moral authority to spell out a three-point plan to thwart the attempts of “anti-national forces” to create animosity between the people of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, he said at a press conference.

Talks should be held in the light of Kerala's submission that it would construct a dam with its own funds and continue to provide water to its neighbour. Dr. Swamy termed the proposal “reasonable,” but wanted the dam construction taken up by the Union government. There should be a guarantee that the new dam would have the same level (152 feet) as the existing structure and there would not be any compromise on the quantum of water supplied to Tamil Nadu.

The Supreme Court had not stayed or rescinded its order on raising the dam level to 142 feet. The objective should be to get water for Tamil Nadu and erase the fears about the dam in the minds of the people of Kerala, he noted.

Deploy CRPF

Dr. Swamy sought the takeover of the dam site by the Central Reserve Police Force following recent trespass attempts. He alleged that anti-national forces were planning to instigate violence across the State, utilising the issue. Those who “did not do anything on the dam issue in the past” were now trying to whip up frenzy.

The issue, he felt, should not get flared up in national interest and whoever was attempting to create animosity between the people of the two States should be detained under the National Security Act. Agitation for or against the dam should be called off in the two States. He accused the former Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, of doing nothing to raise the dam level to 142 feet when he returned to power in 2006.

Opposing the opening up of the retail sector for foreign direct investment, Dr. Swamy said it would create an unequal competition. The interest rates in other countries were very low when compared to the prevailing rates here, which were over 12 per cent. Millions of people were dependent on the huge retail trade network in the country and it would be impossible for foreign companies to duplicate that. India also had the potential to build up retail chains like Walmart. If the Centre still insisted on allowing FDI in the retail sector, it should not restrict the export of rice, wheat, milk and flowers.

In a reference to the reception accorded to DMK MP Kanimozhi at the Chennai airport on her arrival from Delhi, Dr. Swamy said the Central Bureau of Investigation would have to file an application seeking the cancellation of her bail in the 2G spectrum allocation case if such shows continued. She was released on conditional bail and not discharged from the case, he pointed out. He also claimed that the charges made against the former Telecommunications Minister, A. Raja, could also be made against Home Minister P. Chidambaram.