Chennai: Water resources minister N Anand on Friday said the opposition would not be able to “pull away” TVK MLAs, as they would remain loyal to the chief minister and TVK chief C Joseph Vijay until the end. “We would not commit mistakes, and that is how our leader has been steering us,” Anand said while replying to the debate on the demand for grants for his department.Anand, a close associate of Vijay for three decades and the general secretary of Vijay’s All India Thalapathy Vijay Makkal Iyakkam, praised the chief minister, saying Vijay genuinely disliked flattery. “He will turn the chair to the opposite side,” Anand said, drawing loud thumping of desks from the treasury benches. On Thursday, Speaker J C Prabhakar, waving what appeared to be a slip from Vijay, who was seated in the House, announced that the chief minister had asked him to allow TVK MLAs to confine themselves to the subject of the debate and refrain from praising him.Anand said Vijay had chosen candidates largely from among the office-bearers of his fan club, despite several of them admitting that they did not have the money to contest the election. “Our leader maintained that the election deposit was enough for his candidates and that they could seek votes in the name of the whistle,” Anand said. He said Vijay’s associates, including Prabhakar, had been denied tickets in their preferred constituencies as the TVK chief wanted to accommodate fan-club office-bearers in those seats. Anand also said Vijay had asked health minister K G Arunraj, a former IRS officer, to resign from his post and contest the election.The minister announced a slew of projects to improve water resources, including the repair, renovation and restoration of irrigation networks across 30 districts at a cost of ₹695 crore. The govt will spend ₹207 crore to construct 27 check dams in 13 districts and ₹218 crore on flood-mitigation schemes in 19 districts.
