Chennai: Irked over a senior state Congress
leader`s critical remarks about his government, Tamil Nadu
Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Thursday warned such utterances
would "hurt" DMK-Congress ties.
"Instead of strengthening cordial relations between the
two parties (DMK and Congress), such comments by E V K S
Elangovan will only hurt it," the patriarch of DMK, a key ally
of UPA-II, said in a statement here.
A former union minister, Elangovan, known for his
critical comments on the functioning of the DMK government, at
a public meeting yesterday had said the Centre was funding two
thirds of the cost of a housing scheme and there was no
justification for naming it after Karunanidhi.
Karunanidhi said the Kalaignar Housing Scheme was a
totally different programme from the Indira Awaas Yojana for
which the Centre was providing Rs 45,000 per house.
"Elangovan had confused himself with the two schemes.
Even the Governor`s address in the state Assembly in which the
Kalaignar Housing Scheme was announced had clearly stated that
it was a totally new scheme with state government funding," he
said.
The state had earmarked Rs 1,800 crore for the first
phase of construction of 3.5 lakh concrete-roof houses to
replace a total of 21 lakh such houses in the state, he said.
In the past also, Elangovan had flayed the DMK government
for not giving due credit to the UPA for some centrally
assisted schemes.
PTI
