Lambasting DMK president M Karunanidhi for supporting the Food Security Bill without ensuring vital amendments to protect the interests of Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday charged him with committing the “worst betrayal” on the people of Tamil Nadu.
“Arignar Anna (former Chief Minister and founder of the DMK) strove for realising State autonomy and opposed dynastic rule. But Karunanidhi has been acting totally contrary to the principles of Anna by playing a second fiddle to the Congress-led government at the Centre on all issues concerning Tamil Nadu - Lankan Tamils issue, fishermen issue, Katchatheevu issue, Mullaiperiyar issue and Cauvery water dispute etc.,” Jayalalithaa charged.
“By describing Congress chief Sonia Gandhi as Manimekalai (epic character who was in possession of an *akshaya paatra* (inexhaustible food vessel), Karunanidhi is trying to create a false impression that the Bill would really ensure food security to the people,” she said adding that the people of Tamil Nadu would teach a befitting lesson to him for his doublespeak.
“Karunanidhi’s betrayal reminds one about the ‘psuedo nationalists’ ridiculed by poet Subramanya Bharathi many decades ago, who acted without courage and honesty but showcased themselves as heroes,” she said with a sarcastic note.
Recalling that she had, on a couple of occasions, asked Karunanidhi to categorically spell out his party’s stand on the Bill, she said the DMK chief had responded saying his party would not support the Bill without the amendments to set right the grievances of Tamil Nadu. But till the last moment during discussion on the Bill in Lok Sabha, amendments sought by her were not proposed.
In this backdrop, the AIADMK MPs voted against the Bill while the DMK MPs supported it, which stands against the interests of Tamil Nadu, she said and gave a detailed account on the contentious issues for which amendments are a must in the Bill.