Monday, April 4 2005 16:26 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: Bollywood star Vivek Oberoi had not done "anything tangible" for the tsunami victims at Devanampattinam in Cuddalore district, but attracted maximum publicity for the work, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, told the State Assembly today (Apr 4, 2005).

Replying to points raised by the PMK (Pattali Makkal Katchhi) leader G K Mani, she said, "He has done little, but derived a lot of publicity. He has just done ten per cent of the tsunami relief work, while the Government did the rest at Devanampattinam village."

Even that ten per cent work was not done out of his own money, but from donors, she said.

He had sought to derive publicity for whatever the Government had done, she charged.

She said he had shifted his operations to Pondicherry only after his donors had backtracked from their commitment.

The Tamil Nadu Government was not responsible for his decision, she said while denying Mani's charge that he had gone to Pondicherry only because the Government did not allot land to construct permanent houses for the tsunami-affected.

Earlier, the Finance Minister C Ponnaiyan, denying Mani's charge, said the temporary shelters put up by Oberoi's "project Hope' was on the land provided by the Government.