No order to unveil statues, name bus stand after my parents:M Karunanidhi

Karunanidhi, quoting from the District Collector's report, said it was local DMK MLA M Appavu who had borne the expenses to install and maintain the statues of his parents, Muthuvelar and Anjugam Ammal, at Radhapuram village in Tirunelveli district.

The government had granted permission to the MLA to install the statues near the Radhapuram bus stand on condition that vehicular movement would not be obstructed, he said. The statues were scheduled to be unveiled onTuesday at a function by Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin, Karunanidhi's second son. However, Stalin said it was not being done as per instructions from his father.

The Chief Minister said the MLA had borne 90 per cent of the expenses and wanted the bus stand named Muthuvelar-Anjugam Ammal. The Radhapuram panchayat had also adopted a resolution to the effect in May 2007. He ridiculed Opposition AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa's criticism over the issue and said he had already instructed the Collector not to take steps in this regard.

Stalin had said that "vested interests" were exploiting the controversy over the issue to to gain political mileage.