Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday came down heavily on the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam for the criticism of her government on the issue of law and order.
Replying to a debate in the Assembly on the motion of thanks to the Governor for his address, the Chief Minister referred to reports concerning a letter written by DMK parliamentary party leader T.R. Baalu.
The letter, which, she said, was written at the behest of the DMK president M. Karunanidhi, seeking provision of “Z +” security to DMK treasurer M.K. Stalin on the ground that Mr. Stalin was facing threat from the LTTE, religious fundamentalists and political rivals.
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The Chief Minister said that after the end of war in Sri Lanka that led to the “elimination of the LTTE and thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils,” the threat from the LTTE did not exist. Without mentioning the name of anyone, attributing threat perception to religious fundamentalists was imaginary. As for the political rivals, no person had been mentioned.
Considering the timing of the letter and “confusion” in the family of Mr Karunanidhi, it was indirectly conveyed that the threat came from M.K. Alagiri, elder brother of Mr Stalin.
Ms Jayalalithaa asked what was Mr Karunanidhi’s position on the burning of a newspaper office in Madurai, leading to the death of three employees, an incident, which happened during the previous DMK regime, and regarding the murder of former DMK Minister T. Kiruttinan.
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Citing statistics, she said law and order in Tamil Nadu was better than in other States and that her government was committed to maintaining it.