Chennai: DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Sunday questioned the move by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to set up an expert panel over the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) and said the step could have been taken earlier.
"Jayalalithaa wrote to Prime Minister in September last year urging him that work at the plant be stalled till an amicable solution was reached. But, now the State government has announced setting up of an expert panel. Such a panel could have been set up earlier," Karunanidhi said in his party organ 'Murasoli'.
He asked whether the Chief Minister's letter to the Prime Minister and the present move were aimed at "betraying" the protesters.
In a fresh bid to break the impasse over KNPP, Jayalalithaa had yesterday announced that a panel of experts would be set up to look into the "fears and concerns" of the local population regarding the plant.
The move came days after efforts by the Central expert group to resolve the issue hit a dead end with both the panel and anti-KNPP activists ruling out further talks after four rounds of discussions.
She made the announcement in the Tamil Nadu Assembly during her reply to the motion to thank the Governor for his address.
Karunanidhi said the AIADMK chief had claimed that if her party came to power, the State would be free from power cuts within four months. But in her reply to the Governor's address, the Chief Minister had said there would not be any more power cuts from the middle of next year, he said.
Disputing Jayalalithaa's claim that the DMK regime did "little" to enhance power generation during its tenure, Karunanidhi said when his party was in power, steps were taken to generate 7,798 MW of electricity from various projects.
Jayalalithaa had yesterday slammed the DMK for doing "little" to enhance power generation and said various projects were progressing well and a capacity addition of 1,950 MW would be achieved by June this year.
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