TN keen on solution at earliest:Karunanidhi

Chennai, Dec 1 (UNI) Tamil Nadu is keen on finding a final solution at the earliest to the vexed Mullaiperiyar Dam issue, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said today.

Answering a questionnaire, the Chief Minister said he and his Kerala counterpart V S Achuthanandan had just begun preliminary round of talks on the issue and one should ponder whether any issue had been sorted out in the first round of talks anywhere in the world.

There were issues that remained unresolved despite several rounds of talks, but as far as Mullaiperiyar was concerned, Tamil Nadu was keen on finding a final settlement at the earliest and no one need doubt this, he said.

On how it would be possible for Ministers of the two states to find a solution, if the Chief Ministers failed to thrash out the matter, Mr Karunanidhi said in any state, more than Chief Ministers, the concerned Ministers would know the subject better and they would be in a position to discuss issues in detail.

The Ministers could also brief their respective Chief Ministers on their deliberations, which would be helpful for the latter to arrive at a final solution, Mr Karunanidhi felt.

On fasts and padayatra being organised by some political parties in Tamil Nadu, despite the state government taking steps to resolve the issue, Mr Karunanidhi said only by this way, could they show that they too were interested in the issue. They could not be faulted.

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