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Vajpayee yet to consult AIADMK about LS deputy speaker: Jaya

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary J Jayalalitha, whose party is a constituent of the ruling coalition at the Centre, said on Saturday that the BJP has not consulted her so far on the election of deputy speaker to the Lok Sabha.

Jayalalitha made this observation in a brief chat with newsmen after felicitating senior party leader V R Nedunchezhiyan at the latter's residence on his 79th birthday.

The statement assumes significance in the wake of the Congress decision to field a candidate for the deputy speaker's post.

Jayalalitha refused to comment on the Cauvery water issue, which is scheduled before the Supreme Court later this month. "I will tell you all about that later," she said.

In another statement, Jayalalitha warned that her party would resort to agitations if Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi did not stop his 'anti-farmer proceedings.'

She alleged that the state government had forced sugarcane growers to supply their produce to the mills this year without ensuring that their dues for sugarcane supplied in 1996-97 were settled.

The cane growers were undergoing extreme hardships on account of non-payment of dues to the tune of several hundred million rupees, she said.

Instead of trying to clear their dues, the Karunanidhi government was trying to recover the co-operative loans availed by the farmers, she claimed.

She termed the government " anti-people" and charged Karunanidhi with cheating the public.

UNI

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