Governor reviews situation, to send report

By Our Tamil Nadu Bureau

CHENNAI, AUG. 13. As the DMK stepped up pressure on the Central Government for ``checking'' the AIADMK Government in view of the violence during the party rally on Sunday, the Tamil Nadu Governor, Dr. C. Rangarajan, today took stock of the situation in the State after obtaining a report from the Chief Secretary, Mr. P. Shankar.

Dr. Rangarajan is likely to forward the report to the Centre with his comments. The report contains a note from the Chennai Police Commissioner, Mr. K. Muthukaruppan, on the police action against the processionists, besides details on the attacks on journalists who had covered the rally.

The DMK president, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, called on the Governor with a ``complaint'' about the ``police excesses'' during the rally. ``I hope the Governor will take proper action on our complaint,'' he told reporters at the Raj Bhavan.

In the memorandum submitted to the Governor, Mr. Karunanidhi pointed to the ``abysmal law and order situation'' in Tamil Nadu and the ``growing sense of fear among the citizens''.

In a damage-control exercise, the Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalithaa, today ordered the constitution of a Commission of Inquiry headed by a retired High Court judge, Mr. K.S. Bakthavatsalam. The Government was yet to fix any time-frame for the commission, she said.

Ms. Jayalalithaa saw the violence as part of Mr. Karunanidhi's attempts to ``remove'' an elected government from office. ``I hope all political parties and the people would condemn such cruel acts of the DMK,'' she said in a statement.

The Chief Minister also shifted blame on the Centre for the Government's inability to prevent violence during the rally. As the Centre had questioned the State for having taken DMK volunteers into preventive custody at the time of the arrest of Mr. Karunanidhi, police did not take anyone into preventive custody before the procession. ``If professional rioters of the DMK had been arrested as usual, then these untoward incidents could have been prevented,'' she said.

Earlier, Mr. Karunanidhi briefed the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, on the violent incidents and demanded an inquiry by a Supreme Court judge into the ``atrocities'' of the AIADMK Government, including the police firing on Sunday. ``I informed the Prime Minister about yesterday's incidents. He said: `I will see,'' the DMK leader said.

However, Mr. Karunanidhi said he did not want the dismissal of the AIADMK Government. ``We only want the atrocities to be checked.'' He believed the response of the Prime Minister would be ``positive.''

Ms. Jayalalithaa pooh-poohed the possibility of her Government being dismissed on this count. ``It is not easy to dismiss an elected Government. In any case, there is no reason to dismiss this Government,'' she said.

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