DMK spent Rs5,000 crore on assembly polls in 2011: Jaya

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jaylalithaa Wednesday said the DMK spent a whopping Rs5,000 crore on fighting the April assembly elections but still lost.

Thanking the assembly members for wishing her government on the completion of 100 days, she said, "I would like to bring to light a truth here. The erstwhile DMK rulers had believed more on money power than muscle or governance power. Do you know how much they had spent to fight the elections three months back? Rs5,000 crore."

Referring to the strict measures taken by the Election Commission to curb the money power play in the polls, she said almost Rs50 crore was seized from the DMK party activists.

She claimed some DMK activists, out on a morning walk on the beach in Chennai, termed the seizure as mere drops that spill when a pot with water is carried and this conversation was overheard by a person close to her.

Without taking names, she indicated a senior DMK leader was the person who pumped in the money in the party's campaign.

Tamil Nadu's people, however, did not fall for such tricks and voted out the DMK by voting for AIADMK alliance, she said.

Jayalalithaa said the praises for her government's actions during its first 100 days by the law makers are genuine but gave her some jitters as there are more 100 days over the next five years and she had to surpass the initial performance.

This is going to be a big challenge, she admitted.