IANS
Chennai, Oct 21: PMK leader S Ramadoss said Wednesday that with nearly one-third of secretary-level posts in the central government being held by Malayalis, the "country is ruled by Kerala" and because of this Kerala usually "swings things in its favour".
"Kerala is the smallest among 30 large Indian states. But it is said out of 53 secretary-level posts at the centre, 19 are held by Keralites. Given this, people are wondering whether it is the central secretariat governing the whole country or it is the state secretariat of Kerala," Ramadoss said.
The leader's comments came after the state government got the central government's nod for a survey for a new dam at Mullaperiyar in Kerala's Idduki district. The two states have been at logger heads over the dam which is in Kerala but serves Tamil Nadu.
Kerala wants the more than 100-year-old dam to be de-commissioned and a new one built but Tamil Nadu is against any such move.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi in a statement had said: "If the Kerala government thumps its chest for trampling upon the law of the land and believes that the Tamil Nadu government should accept it bowing its head, then people will wonder which state is ruling the country."
Ramadoss also listed out the names of top officials belonging to Kerala like Christy Leon Fernandes, secretary to the president, M.K. Narayanan, national security advisor, T.K.A. Nair and R. Gopalakrishnan in the Prime Minister's Office, Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekar and several secretaries to the government of India like Madhavan Nair, C.K. Pillai, Nirupama Menon Rao, P.K. Thomas, Nandakumar, Madhavan Nambiar, M. Ramachandran, Rita Menon and Shantha Sheela Nair.
He demanded that Karunanidhi disclose as to who gave the power and support to Union Minister Jairam Ramesh to permit the Kerala government to carry out the survey for the dam across the Mullaperiyar River.
Ramadoss said unless Tamil Nadu challenges the central government it will not be able to secure its rights in sharing of river waters with its neighbours.