Minister says Jaya politicising chikungunya issue

Chennai, Sep 20 (UNI) Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister Arcot N Veerasamy today refuted charges levelled by Former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on chikungunya saying she was politicising the issue.

Referring to Ms Jayalalithaa's 'list of names of 232 people in the state who had fallen prey to the disease,' Mr Veerasamy said verification showed the facts to be otherwise.

Referring to a letter from Namakkal District Collector who was asked to verify about the death of Mr Venkatachalam, whom Ms Jayalalithaa claimed had succumbed to Chikungunya, Mr Veerasamy said enquiry showed he died of liver cancer.

The collector also referred to a letter from Health Department Deputy Director R Sampathkumar who said Mr Venkatachalam of Rasipuram Panchayat Union was diagnosed with liver cancer.

He succumbed after treatment proved to be of no avail. Mr Veerasamy also wanted to know why Ms Jayalalithaa had not released a list of victims belonging to the Chennai city and said may be she was afraid the truth could be revealed.

The minister also wanted to know the dailies which carried reports of such deaths and said the people would have come to know of it if such information was carried by the media.

UNI GM MS MIR BST0035