Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Only an attempt to take revenge: Karunanidhi

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI April 6 . The DMK president, M. Karunanidhi, today criticised the State Government for its efforts to curtail the powers of local bodies at a time when there were demands for decentralisation of powers to these bodies.

Referring to a bill moved in the Assembly on Thursday giving additional powers to the Corporation Commissioner and simultaneously reducing the administrative and financial powers of the Mayor, Mr. Karunanidhi said it was nothing but an attempt to take `revenge on an individual'.

Addressing mediapersons, Mr. Karunanidhi said that while the Prime Minister, A. B.Vajpayee, and the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, advocated the need for more powers to local bodies for strengthening them, in Tamil Nadu the powers were being curtailed. He said a majority of political parties were for decentralisation and nobody was for weakening the local bodies by reducing its existing powers.

While he would support the one-man-one-post policy, it should not be given any retrospective effect, Mr. Karunanidhi said. If the Government was really interested the policy it should have enacted the law before the local bodies election. ``Trying to bring the law after the election could be termed vengeful act.''

Referring to the spate of robberies and other law and order problems in the State, he said the ruling party was least concerned about these issues and even if they were brought to notice, it did not take cognisance of them.

Mr. Karunanidhi said the party MPs and MLAs had written to the Election Commission that methods adopted at the Andipatti Assembly byelection should not be repeated in the coming byelections in the State. Based on the Commission's reply, legal action would be initiated.

Refusing to react about the Assembly proceedings, the DMK leader said in the last Assembly, the then ruling party gave ample opportunities to AIADMK MLAs to express their views. Now the ruling partymen were not allowing the Opposition to reply to the charges made against them.

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