Jaya issues legal notice to CM to tender unconditional apology

Chennai, Nov 19 (UNI) Opposition AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalithaa today issued a legal notice to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, stating that she would file a defamation case against him for Rs One crore, if he failed to tender an apology for his remarks that she had instigated the clash between two groups of Law college students here on November 12.

A day after Mr Karunanidhi said that he had made the remarks in jest, but prepared to face the defamation case, the AIADMK leader, sent a legal notice, calling upon him to tender an unconditional apology in writing and ensure that the same is published in newspapers.

If the Chief Minister failed to tender an apology, she would be constrained to initiate civil and criminal action, seeking to restrain him from making such slanderous allegations and claim Rs One crore as damages for the loss of her reputation, mental agony and pain, she said.

The Dr Ambedkar Law college in the city witnessed a bloody clash between two groups of students. The incident took place under the very nose of police officials. A posse of police personnel stood as bystanders, while a group armed with deadly weapons, attacked some students in public view.

Condemning the police for their inaction, Ms Jayalalithaa had demnaded the resignation of Chief Minister, who is in-charge of Police, owning moral responsibility for the untoward incident.

When newspersons asked about Ms Jayalalithaa's demand at a press conference in Coimbatore on November 17, Mr Karunanidhi had remarked that ''this shows that Ms Jayalalithaa and MDMK leader Vaiko themselves might have instigated the students to clash, so that they could seek his resignation.'' After Ms Jayalalithaa took serious exception to the remarks, Mr Karunanidhi, in a statement here yesterday, clarified that he had made the remarks in jest and lighter vein.

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