Monday, August 29 2005 15:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Vellore: Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) President M Karunanidhi has geared up his party machinery to face the next year's assembly polls, by asking his party men to tell the people about the "non-fulfilment" of electoral pledges made by the All India Anna Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam(AIADMK) during the 2001 elections.

The AIADMK, which promised to make the state numero one in all fields, had not done anything towards this during its four and half years of the state. In fact, it had negated all the good work done by his government from 1996 to 2001 for the speedy growth of the state, he alleged at the two-day zonal conference of the party, which concluded here late last night.

He devoted his hour-long speech to present a chargesheet against the AIADMK government, drawing extensively from the statistical data provided by the Centre and the Tamil Nadu Government in support of his charges.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha had claimed that she was making attempts to make the state as the numero one in the country, but her actions did not match her promises, he said.

When the opposition demanded a White Paper on the state's economy, Jayalalitha had said there was no need for it 'obviously because that such a paper will expose her', he said.

Speaker after speaker told the conference that the immediate need of the state was a change of government. 'Only If there is a government, friendly to the Center, Tamil Nadu will be able to enjoy the benefits of the various schemes announced by Dr Manmohan Singh government, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) President G K Vasan said.

PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss, supporting the DMK's demand for state autonomy, said education should be removed from the concurrent list and restored to the state list. The DMK should make efforts to achieve this, he said

Likening Jayalalithaa to a cobra, which would definitely bite given a chance, MDMK Chief Vaiko claimed her recent remarks that she had a change of mind and would now concentrate on the welfare of people was only to deceive the people. "Habits die hard and how can one expect cobra to forget about biting?" he asked.

The two-day conference was devoted to pep up the party cadre and prepare them for the next year's assembly polls. Karunanidhi cautioned his party men not to be lethargic and work for the party's victory.

'It does not mean that I aspire to become Chief Minister. I consider the post as a tool to serve the people and not as a prestigious one. Some times, it is a crown of thorns,' he said.

The conference clearly indicated that the DMK was going back to its basics. Two resolutions - one on state autonomy and another on opposition to Hindi imposition were indicators for this. Another message from the conference was that the alliance forged by the DMK for the last Lok Sabha elections still remained intact, despite reports of AIADMK making efforts to woo some of the constituents of DPA.