MK relaunches projects already launched by Jaya

Chennai, Feb 18: AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalithaa today accused Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi of 'hijacking' the projects introduced or launched by her and relaunching them as if they were his brainchild.

Reacting to Mr Karunanidhi laying the foundation stone for the Thiruvalluvar University in Vellore on February 16, the AIADMK leader, in a statement here, said the Chief Minister was trying to give the impression that the university was being launched by him, but the decision to this effect was taken by the previous AIADMK regime in 2002 itself. She said her government had announced in the Governor's address that a university to benefit SCs, STs and backward class students would be established in Vellore and it would be named after saint poet Thiruvalluvar.

After the announcement, the university, established in October 2002, started functioning from a building in Vellore Fort complex, she said, adding the then government had even identified 135 acres of land at Irayankadu village near Vellore.

But the DMK Government identified land at a new place and Mr Karunanidhi laid the foundation stone for the university, giving the impression that it was being started by him, she said.

Similarly, her Government had conceived the idea of setting up an estuary at Adyar creek, but Mr Karunanidhi had claimed that the project was his brainchild, she alleged.

She said her government had signed a MoU in December 2005 for setting up the BMW factory involving an investment of Rs 300 crore at Mahindra City.

After the allocation of lands, the civil work was also started, but addressing a function at the factory recently, the Chief Minister gave an impression that he was instrumental in bringing the project to the state, she said.

The foundation stone for building Asia's biggest prison at Puzhal was also laid during her regime, but Mr Karunanidhi, after opening the prison, had propogated that it was his brainchild, she claimed.

UNI