Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Friday castigated both the Congress and the BJP for “betraying the interests of Tamil Nadu and favouring Karnataka” on the Cauvery water dispute and stressed the need for the AIADMK winning all the 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls to create a government that would listen to the justified demands of Tamil Nadu.
“We should realise the goal that tomorrow is ours and all 40 are ours and the party cadre should strive hard to achieve it,” she said, presiding over 65 marriages organised in connection with her 65th birthday, which will fall later this month.
Ms. Jayalalithaa said the two national parties — the Congress and the BJP — had a taken a stand in favour of Karnataka because they could not even dream of forming a government in Tamil Nadu even if they bent over backwards.
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She said winning all seats was vital to make Tamil Nadu the number one State in the country; to ensure that the Cauvery delta region did not turn into a desert; to secure Tamil Nadu’s rights; to give shape to her visions; to ensure that Tamils' voice was heard in Delhi and to set up a government that would listen to the State's justified demands.
The Union government, she said, was denying our quota of kerosene and electricity.
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“Financial assistance for the State is either denied or delayed. Arasu Cable TV Corporation cannot get licence for its operation and the Centre is not allowing us to lay electric lines through forest areas and we could get permission only after approaching the court,” she said.
“What is agonising is that a selfish person, harping on Tamil and Tamil culture, is enjoying power at the Centre and playing second fiddle to it,” she said, in an indirect reference to DMK president M. Karunanidhi. However, her government was able to overcome all obstacles and record achievements.
Unprecedented gesture
She said her government had announced a compensation of Rs. 15,000 per acre for farmers in the delta region, an unprecedented gesture.
“Even the opposition parties have appreciated our gesture. In the last 20 months we have implemented many schemes, which remain a model for other States,” she said.
The Chief Minister pointed out though Karnataka refused to release water, her government approached the Supreme Court and got a direction for release of 60 TMC ft.
“We have upheld the rights of the State. Similarly, we have succeeded in getting a direction from the Supreme Court for notifying the order of the Cauvery Water Tribunal. These outcomes bear testimony to the tenacity of our government,” she said.
Those who got married on the occasion included the daughter of PWD Minister K.V. Ramalingam and the son of former Minister R.S. Raja Kannappan.