Defending the AIADMK’s position on the Cauvery issue, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Friday denied the DMK’s charge that the State government had not adequately exerted pressure on the Centre to form the Cauvery Management Board.
Mr. Palaniswami, who was in Madurai to solemnise the wedding of 120 couples organised by the AIADMK Amma Peravai, said, “For one State’s [Tamil Nadu] issue, our party MPs created history by stalling Parliament for 17 days during the recent session.”
He contended that though the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) came out in 2007, the DMK, which was then part of the Congress-led government at the Centre, failed to get it notified in the gazette.
“For the DMK, the priority was family and the portfolios they could get in the Union Cabinet,” he alleged, adding that it was former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa who initiated a legal battle and got the award eventually notified in 2013.
Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam said the ruling party’s one-day fast to be undertaken on Monday would demonstrate the commitment of the AIADMK government in protecting Tamil Nadu’s rights and would have a huge impact on the country and the Union government.
‘No vacuum’
In a veiled reference to actors entering Tamil Nadu politics, Mr. Palaniswami said contrary to the claims of a few people, there was no political vacuum in the State. “They can perhaps try in neighbouring States. There is no place in Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Elaborate arrangements were made by the Amma Peravai for the marriage function, in which several State Ministers and party functionaries took part. Party cadre and college students were deployed on many places along the roughly 17 km route from the Madurai airport to the function venue near Viraganoor junction to welcome the Chief Minister.
