CHENNAI: The ruling AIADMK today charged DMK chief M Karunanidhi with having encroached on some land behind his Gopalpuram residence and said legal action would be taken in this regard and in similar cases detected by the government government.Local administration minister K P Munusamy said the piece of land was a permament 780 square foot structure housing rest rooms for security guards,which was allotted to Karunanidhi in 1967 by way of a Corporation resolution.Munnisamy said the land was assigned to Karunanidhi for Rs 3,250. However, on Karunanidhi's request in 1969,the allotment was cancelled and money was advised to be refunded, he said."Despite the cancellation, it is still in possession of Karunanidhi. In 1978 he had requested reassigning the land but no decision was taken by Chennai corporation," he said.He said the civic body had adopted a resolution in 2003 seeking retrieval of the land for government use but no action had been taken."This land continues to be used by Karunanidhi and we will initiate all legal steps to retrieve encroached land as well as those which will be detected," he said, replying to a motion moved by AIADMK legislator Vetrivel.Munuswamy also said steps would be taken to retrieve land allegedly encroached as part of DMKs headquarters 'Anna Arivalayam' after Vetrivel levelled a charge to this effect.NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj today took head-on Digvijaya Singh's challenge for a probe into her alleged business relations with the Reddy brothers and said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should appoint the Congress general secretary himself to investigate the matter.Denying any relations with the mining barons either in the past or at present, Swaraj said, "I welcome this statement of Digvijaya Singh and I want that this probe should definitely be done so that the truth comes out as only when the truth comes out will I get justice."One of the mining barons, Janardhan Reddy was arrested today by the CBI in a case of illegal mining.She sought to throw Prime Minister Singh's recent statement in the Lok Sabha- where he had said Leader of Opposition can hold any inquiry against him and find out for herself if he had indulged in any corrupt practices- back at the government and the Congress, saying he could order a similar probe against her."Government can hold any probe against me through any agency. Or as the Prime Minister had himself made the offer in the House that Leader of Opposition can investigate the matter, I now say the Prime Minister can himself hold any investigations against me," Swaraj said.Taking the fight further into the Congress camp, she suggested that the Prime Minister could even appoint some leader as his representative to conduct the probe."If the Prime Minister appoints Digvijaya Singh as his representative for such a probe, I will be most happy as then Digvijaya Singh can satisfy his curiosity by conducting his own investigations," Swaraj said.She further reiterated that she had "nothing to do with the Reddy brothers, neither in the past nor now".
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