Sunday, September 11 2005 09:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: Taking exception to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa blaming him squarely for the Cauvery tangle, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M Karunanidhi yesterday (Sept 10, 2005) said the case before the Supreme Court was withdrawn in 1972 during the Prime Ministership of Indira Gandhi only on the condition that it can be 'reopened' any time.

"Jayalalithaa had cleverly hidden this point while spitting venom on me," at a Government function in Thanjavur on Friday (Sept 9, 2005), the DMK Chief said in a statement in Chennai.

Karunanidhi said when she made a similar charge in the state assembly on April 2002, Congress leader S R Balasubramoniam had clarified this point and Jayalalithaa had immediately remarked that it was due to a 'slip of tongue' and subsequently she herself corrected her statement.

Denying Jayalalithaa's charge that DMK had done precious little on the Cauvery issue, Karunanidhi catalogued various steps taken by him and his Government in the past.

Refuting her observations that it was late M G Ramachandran, who took the initiative to seek a tribunal to solve the dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the DMK Chief said though it was true that Ramachandran as Chief Minister had made such a demand, it was the DMK Government which, as early as in February1970, wrote to the Center seeking the setting up of a tribunal.

"This was followed up with the passing of a resolution in the assembly by the DMK Government in July 1971 and again in 1989 when V P Singh was the Prime Minister', who ultimately ordered for a tribunal in 1990."

It is rather unfortunate that Jayalalithaa is not aware of these facts, he said.