DMK to hold protest against Jairam on dam row with Kerala

CHENNAI: In a sudden move that could embarrass the Manmohan Singh regime and cast a shadow on DMK-Congress ties, the ruling DMK on Wednesday night announced that it would hold a massive public meeting in Madurai on November 1 to condemn the manner in which a Union minister of state had dealt with the Mullaperiyar dam issue.
Without mentioning the name of Jairam Ramesh, Union minister of state for environment and forests, who had given the go-ahead to Kerala to conduct a survey for construction of a new dam across the Mullaperiyar, the DMK headquarters issued a terse statement that its president M Karunanidhi would address the gathering.
With opposition parties targeting the DMK chief for what they say is failure to stop the survey despite being a major ally of the Congress, Karunanidhi had a few days ago expressed anguish that Ramesh had acted without consulting the state before granting permission.
According to highly placed sources, what had irked the CM and led to his venting his anger on the minister was that Ramesh had not even replied to his letter appealing to Ramesh not to grant permission on a matter that is sub judice and seeking to be consulted before a decision was made. He was also upset that the ministry's decision had been based on a "misrepresentation of facts" by Kerala to the effect that the matter was not sub judice.
Ever since he got the minutes of the standing committee of the National Board of Wildlife chaired by Ramesh, permitting Kerala to carry out a survey and investigation, Karunanidhi said the decision was taken on such erroneous details such as the dam was weak and could cause serious disaster in future. These were contrary to the findings of a Central expert committee.
Without replying to the CM's September 22 letter or seeking TN's views, Ramesh had approved the minutes and granted permission, a source said. Union IT minister A Raja had taken up TN's cause to Ramesh, while Karunanidhi had even asked the PM to direct Ramesh to withdraw the permission given to Kerala.
"The Supreme Court declining to stay the survey is not a setback to us as it has come forward to hear the main suit seeking to nullify the Kerala law that circumvents the apex court's order to raise the storage to 142 ft," said a senior official.