Chennai: DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Friday
ridiculed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for
challenging him over the area of DMK headquarters land here,
saying she had misunderstood his explanation over the issue.
The two are locked in a bitter exchange of words since
Jayalalithaa recently alleged that the DMK office was built on
land grabbed from a zamindar family in 1972.
Denying her contention that he had said DMK office was
built on 25 grounds (one ground equals to 2,400 square feet),
Karunanidhi in a statement said he had only stated that one
cawny of land was equivalent to 25 grounds.
The sale deed had clearly stated that the net extent of
land sold was three cawnies, 12 grounds and 1,951 sq feet, he
said.
"I had not said the entire area is 25 grounds. I had only
explained that one cawny was roughly around 25 acres. But
Jayalalithaa had misunderstood my explanation and challenged
that if the area exceeded 25 grounds, whether the surplus land
will be handed over to the government," he said.
Jayalalithaa had yesterday asked, "Is Karunandihi willing
to hand over the rest of the land to the government if it
exceeded 25 grounds?"
She also alleged that Karunanidhi had used "strong-arm
methods" in acquiring the plot and her political mentor late M
G Ramachandran was expelled from the DMK because he had
questioned it.
PTI
First Published: Friday, October 14, 2011, 20:06