Swamy seeks Karunanidhi’s prosecution for land allotment

CHENNAI - Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy Monday sought the Tamil Nadu governor’s sanction for prosecution of Chief Minister M. Karuananidhi for alleged irregularities in land allotment.

Swamy handed over his petition seeking permission to prosecute DMK chief Karunanidhi to Governor Surjit Singh Barnala’s aid de camp (ADC) Monday afternoon.

Speaking to reporters outside Raj Bhavan, Swamy said: “The rules of the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) are clear on allotment of land. The chief minister has exceeded his authority. The allotments have to be cancelled and the chief minister has to be prosecuted.”

He alleged that Karunanidhi had misused his office in allotting land to some people, and “I have sought the governor’s sanction to prosecute the chief minister”.

Sometime back complaints against the TNHB were made for alleged allotment of land to ineligible people under a discretionary quota.

“TNHB rules clearly state that land cannot be allotted to well-to-do persons and to those already owning a plot, apartment or a house. Here the land has been allotted to IAS officials and others,” Swamy said.

The state government recently abolished the discretionary quota for allotment of land, Swamy said in his complaint.

Speaking to IANS prior to the submission of his petition, Swamy said: “The governor cannot sit over my petition. This is only the first of my petitions against Karunanidhi. There are several more complaints. I have 23 dossiers and with one down today, 22 are still there.”

This is the second salvo Swamy is firing at Karunanidhi.

On Saturday, Swamy named Karunanidhi as a co-accused along with former union communications minister A. Raja in the 2G spectrum scam in his complaint to a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in New Delhi.

“I have named Karunanidhi as an co-accused along with Raja in the matter and many more names will be added,” Swamy told the court.

Reacting to that, Karunanidhi Sunday sent a legal notice to Swamy saying he should retract his statement within 24 hours or face civil/criminal action for defamation.

“I am yet to get that notice,” Swamy said, adding the legal notice shows the total ignorance of law.

“The media has got copies of the legal notice and not me. I have not been served. The acknowledgement that the notice has been served has to have my signature,” he said.

Swamy said Karunanidhi has sent the notice to convince his party cadres that legal action was being taken.