'Coterie is prostrating before Jayalalithaa': Karunanidhi slams AIADMK over Chennai floods

Chennai: DMK President M Karunanidhi on Tuesday slammed arch rival AIADMK over its handling of the recent rains and subsequent deluge and warned that his party would soon “respond” to the ruling party “legally and through parliamentary democracy.” Karunanidhi’s statement comes months ahead of the Assembly elections in the state, even as he said that the Jayalalithaa government “must be removed immediately.” [caption id=“attachment_2571590” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  M Karunanidhi. PTI[/caption] Leading a DMK agitation on the issue of rains and floods, he once again trained his guns against the ruling party over the issue of discharge of excess water from Chembarambakkam reservoir here, which the opposition parties have been claiming had resulted in the deluge in Chennai. He also claimed that the state was now witnessing many “atrocities” not seen in other government tenures. In an apparent reference to the defence of the government as well as that of Jayalalithaa that there was no wrongdoing on the issue of water release, Karunanidhi said the chief minister even “defended” such a serious charge and that her party was hopeful of retaining power in the elections. “There is a coterie which is prostrating before her and making idiotic claims… it can claim that despite the atrocities and the Chembarambakkam issue it can come back to power. The day to give them a reply is not far off. Very soon, we are going to respond to them legally and through parliamentary democracy,” he said in his address. He charged the government with not handling the flood situation properly, although Jayalalithaa had repeatedly stated that Tamil Nadu had faced unprecedented rain which made matters worse despite her government’s preparedness. Party Treasurer MK Stalin also accused the ruling AIADMK of failure over handling of the northeast monsoon, adding it will soon pay the price for its alleged failure. Earlier, several resolutions were passed during the protest, including the party’s reiteration of its demand for a judicial probe into the release of excess water from Chembarambakkam. DMK had earlier petitioned Governor K Rosaiah on the same issue. PTI