Date:23/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/23/stories/2008072359850800.htm

Tamil Nadu

AIADMK regime blamed for power shortage

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi said on Tuesday that Tamil Nadu would not have faced electricity shortage if the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam regime had shown interest in setting up power projects.

In a statement here, he said Ms. Jayalalithaa was more interested in suppressing the Opposition. Reacting to Ms. Jayalalithaa’s allegation that his statement on Kachatheevu was nothing but an eyewash, Mr. Karunanidhi said she had vowed to retrieve it in her Independence Day speech in 1991. “She was in power for five years between 1991 and 1996. She became Chief Minister again in 2001. Did she retrieve it?” he asked.

Mr. Karunanidhi said it was unbecoming of Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Adavni to describe the United Progressive Alliance government as a patient in an intensive care unit.