Former minister Nehru, DMK grab land, says Jayalalithaa

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AIADMK general secretary and chief minister J. Jayalalithaa used the land-grab pitch against the DMK to seek votes for her party in the Tiruchy West Assembly constituency by-election, here on Sunday.

Using the example of former DMK minister K.N. Nehru, caught in land-grab cases, she then went on to charge his leader and party president M. Karunanidhi with being his role model.

Addressing an election rally near the central bus stand here on Sunday, Ms Jayalalithaa accused Mr Nehru of having done no good for the people of Tiruchy but only grabbing thousands of acres in the name of his benamis when he was minister.

Stating that the former minister had only followed in the footsteps of Mr Karunanidhi, she quoted from the Sarkaria commission report, alleging that the DMK headquarters in Chennai was constructed on land belonging to a zamin after grabbing the land in 1972. Mr Subburathinam, one of the 10 descendants of the zamin, was summoned and threatened, citing the Land Ceiling Act. He was forced to sign the document though he had no legal right to do so, Ms Jayalalithaa said.

The DMK Tiruchy district office, ‘Kalaignar Arivalayam’, was constructed on land belonging to the wakf board after illegally grabbing it, she alleged.

She said Mr Nehru acted in a manner not befitting his name and asked the people to vote for AIADMK candidate M. Paranjothi considering the achievements of the AIADMK government and keeping in mind the atrocities unleashed by Mr Nehru. Even DMK sympathisers were now lodging complaints of land-grabbing against Mr Nehru, she said.

Assuring that Tamil Nadu will be made a power-cut free state in another year, she said after the AIADMK came to power, steps were taken to reduce the total hours of power-cut in a phased manner.