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Jaya asks Centre to deploy army for PM's TN visit

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham general secretary J Jayalalitha today appealed to the Centre to deploy the army, if necessary, to provide security to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during his March 21 visit to Tamil Nadu to attend the Bharatiya Janata Party conference at Tiruchi, alleging that the state police was not geared to meet the situation.

In a statement in Madras, she said before the prime minister's visit the Centre should make its own assessment to beef up the security arrangements and should not hesitate to deploy the army, if there was a need.

Castigating the state government for its failure to maintain law and order and provide security to the people, she said, ''The Centre would have by now understood that the M Karunanidhi regime is just not adequately geared to provide effective security to the prime minister during his proposed visit to Tiruchi.''

Jayalalitha said she was making the appeal in the interest of the nation and also to impress upon the Union government about the precarious law and order situation in Tamil Nadu under Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.

UNI

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