DMK to blame for civic poll delay: Velumani

His reply came after Alandur DMK MLA TM Anbarasan raised the question as to why the state government did not conduct civic body elections.

“The government planned to conduct such elections based on the population in 2011. However, it is DMK, which filed a case against this decision in the Court,” Velumani said.

Pressed further, the Minister charged the DMK stating that when the AIADMK government was again gearing up to hold elections, the DMK once again approached the court reasoning that the government did not follow proper reservation for Scheduled Tribes. “Since issues relating to delimitation and reservations are pending before the court, the government will conduct the election after court verdict,” he said and claimed that even as the civic body elections were not held so far, no works were affected.

The Minister went a step ahead and said, “The AIADMK is ready to face the elections and it is DMK that is shying away from it.” Velumani also said that the government was taking appropriate measures to tackle the drinking water scarcity.

He recounted that they tapped water from stone quarries and other lakes to mitigate the drinking water supply in 2017.

“Despite drought, the government is able to supply 550 MLD a day to the city,” he noted.