By IANS
New Delhi : Differences between the Congress and its ally DMK over the controversial Sethusamudram shipping canal project have come to the fore.
Shipping and Surface Transport Minister T.R. Baalu, who represents the DMK in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, has been at loggerheads with Culture Minister Ambika Soni over the feasibility of resuming the project, a senior minister said Thursday on condition of anonymity.
Asked about the fate of the project, the minister said, “Ask Baalu and Ambika”, indicating the Congress and the DMK were readying for a fight on the issue.
“This project will meet the same fate as the India-US nuclear deal,” the minister told IANS.
The project, involving dredging a canal in the Indian Ocean between India and Sri Lanka, has been opposed by several Hindu groups as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as it would affect a formation known as Ram Setu, mentioned in the Hindu epic Ramayana.
The Supreme Court has stayed the project.
Sources in the government said that Baalu is under pressure from his leader, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief M. Karnuanidhi, to force the UPA government to commence the work on the project at the earliest.
However, following protests since last year led by the BJP and others, the Congress has been reluctant to push the project aggressively.