Only AIADMK can claim credit: Kamaraj on TN coal mines

TIRUCHY: No one can take credit for the cancellation of the coal mining auction in Tamil Nadu except AIADMK as the party has played a key role behind the decision in the union government, said former minister R Kamaraj on Saturday.

Kamaraj said, the AIADMK leaders and the cadres have accepted Edappadi K Palaniswami as the party chief and the same has been upheld by the courts too. “And in such a scenario, there is no connection between the party and OPS and it is merely a joke that OPS has planned to organise a conference in Tiruchy on April 24,” he said.

Referring to the Union government announcement on coal mining tender on March 29 in as many as 101 places across the country including three in Tamil Nadu, the former minister said, the Centre had accepted the request of AIADMK and withdrew the decision. “It was due to the AIADMK government’s order declaring the Cauvery Delta as a Protected Agricultural Zone. This apart, the AIADMK members in the assembly supported the resolution of the state government against the tender,” Kamaraj said. Stating that no party in Tamil Nadu can take credit for the decision, Kamaraj said, the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa protected the rights of the Cauvery for delta farmers, the former Chief Minister EPS protected the delta region by announcing it as a protected agricultural zone based on which the Chief Minister MK Stalin has written a letter to the Prime Minister,” he said.