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Rangarajan refutes Jaya's criticism of PM over Cauvery accord

Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union Power Minister Rangarajan Kumaramangalam has criticised All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham chief J Jayalalitha for alleging that Prime Minister A B Vajpayee, who heads the Cauvery River Water Authority, lacked the technical expertise to decide on the issue.

Addressing the media in Madras, he said the prime minister had the legal and technical expertise available in the country at his disposal and it was incorrect to say that he lacked the technical expertise.

Kumaramangalam also denied Jayalalitha's allegation that there was a secret deal between Vajpayee and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on the continuance of the DMK government, on the basis of which Karunanidhi signed the Cauvery water sharing agreement. It was impossible for the two leaders to have a secret deal, he added.

He said Jayalalitha was grossly suspicious of anyone meeting Karunanidhi as she believed that the Tamil Nadu government was victimising her by filing numerous court cases against her. Even his meeting with Karunanidhi today would evoke critical response from her, he claimed.

UNI

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