CHENNAI, Feb 12: AIADMK general secretary and former chief minister J Jayalalitha, continued with her Karunanidhi-bashing and lambasted him for what she called the Krishna water `farce' for the first time, during her campaign in Chennai on Wednesday.Wheeling out of her Poes Garden residence at 5.15 p.m., accompanied by her Chennai Central candidate D Jayakumar and convoy of over 60 autorickshaws, she made her first stop at Bharathi Salai, Triplicane, where she branded the scheme for supply of Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh for Chennaites as a drama to ensure the victory of the chief minister's son M K Stalin in the city mayoral election.
In view of this, the Corporation was now hitting out at the economically weaker sections by increasing several-fold the licence fee for even small businesses, she said.
Having blasted the Tamil Nadu government for the steep price rise of essential commodities and hike in bus fares, she launched an attack on the Centre. ``The increase in petroleum prices has alsoresulted in gas (LPG) prices going up, affecting every household. Karunanidhi and Karuppiah Moopanar together schemed and ensured a ministerial berth for nine Tamilians, but the state has not benefited at all,'' she said.
On the problems of the city, she was no less vociferous. ``Bad, pot-holed roads and poor, civic amenities are proof of the way the Government had been run in the last 18 months. Now, the Corporation is taking up several works on a war-footing as an election ploy by the chief minister to hoodwink the public and ensure that his nephew and Chennai Central candidate Murasoli Maran retains his parliamentary seat, on the lines of the Krishna ``drama''.
No effort has been taken by the government to control the frequent fires that are taking place in the city now, resulting in severe losses for thousands of poor people, she said.
Another incident that she dwelt on was the ``behaviour'' of city DMK MLA Saidai Kittu. ``When an old lady asked him for relief at Kotturpuram, he slapped her. But hasthe MLA been pulled up?'' In the first one hour of campaign, she made four stops where she condemned the caste violence and the tense environment prevailing in the southern districts, due to bad administration.
Her speeches, lasting 10-15 minutes each, had attentive audiences. She received spontaneous and good response at Swami Naickan street, Chintadripet.
Dressed in a pale green saree, the travel-weary Jayalalitha was not short of aggression when canvassing for votes. ``The last time the present MP met all of you was when he sought votes in 1996, and now he meets you again. My candidate will be different. He will be there for you.''
After pointing out the inadequacies of the DMK government, she also attempted to evoke sympathy for the 28-day imprisonment. ``What wrong did I do, except to think of the well-being of my people, to be tortured, humiliated and jailed? Even Karunanidhi was indicted by the Sarkaria Commission report on the issue of corruption, but I did not exploit my five-year term ingovernment and jail him. That is because I was taught to be gracious by my mentor MGR (this was the only mention she made of him),'' she said.
She wound up her speeches with a brief request to enable BJP to form the government at the Centre under the able leadership of A B Vajpayee.
Peak-hour traffic congestion was worsened by the campaigns as motorists sweated it out in seemingly endless snarls.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
