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Threat of dismissal from parallel government, says Karunanidhi

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today said there was no threat to his government from the Centre, "but from a parallel government being run by some persons in the city".

In an obvious reference to All India Anna DMK general secretary J Jayalalitha's demand for the dismissal of the DMK government, he said, "The parallel government here has been making such threats."

Karunanidhi was addressing a press conference at the state secretariat to mark the second anniversary of his government today.

He alleged that the AIADMK and its allies had been campaigning for the dismissal of his government with a view to crippling the administrative machinery and put on hold his government's developmental programmes.

He said, "None of us here, including officials, are afraid of facing the situation. I am sure those who are making the demand will be defeated." The ruling DMK would meet the dismissal threat legally and politically, he added.

Asked about the Centre's appointment of AIADMK lawyers as standing counsel for various departments and large-scale transfer of income tax officials in the state, he said, "I don't think it is being done by the Vajpayee government. There is a parallel government in Madras which is doing it."

Asked about Tamil Maanila Congress president G K Moopanar's decision to go in for closer coordination with the Congress, he said he would make known his response after a clear-cut and categorical announcement was made by the TMC.

Listing the achievements of his two-year-old regime, Karunanidhi said investment worth more than Rs 350 billion had flowed into the state and this which would help generation employment and spur industrial growth.

Several multinationals including Hyundai and Matsushita were setting up huge plants and some of the projects had started functioning, he pointed out.

Tamil Nadu, he said, stood third in the list of states attracting maximum foreign investment in the last two years. The state's economic growth, which stood at 0.10 per cent in 1996 at the fag end of the AIADMK regime, rose to six per cent in 1996-97 and stood at 5.4 per cent in 1997-98. It was expected to cross the seven per cent mark in 1998-99, he added.

Admitting that corruption still existed at the lower levels of the administration, he said it was the residue of the previous AIADMK regime. However, none of his ministers faced corruption charges and he was satisfied with their performance, he added.

Karunanidhi said the full information regarding Al Umma's conspiracy to assassinate BJP leader L K Advani in Coimbatore was conclusively confirmed only after the white paper on the serial blasts was tabled in the state assembly.

On power development, he said it was proposed to augment the capacity by another 1,792 MW. The proposed projects included onward stages of the North Madras thermal power project and five naphtha-based gas turbine plants cleared by the Centre out of the 20 projects proposed by the state government.

One of the five gas turbine plants would be ready within the next four to five months, he added.

Replying to a question, he said tenders for the Jayamkondan lignite-based power plant would be finalised by the end of this month.

Asked if he felt there was something which his government could not achieve during the last two years despite making strenuous efforts, he quipped: "We have learnt that it is next to impossible to satisfy you, the media."

UNI

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