Referring to the denial given by Highways Minister T. Kiruttinan on the issue and the subsequent challenge posed by Alphonse, Karunanidhi challenged the TMC, whose leader Balakrishnan raised the subject in the House, to give a petition to the Governor and seek prosecution of the government.

Unlike the earlier (AIADMK) regime, the present government would not interfere in the Governor's functioning and advise her against proceeding with the petition, he said.

``Let the Governor accept it and order for prosecution. We are ready to face it. We will take action against whoever is responsible for any irregularity,'' he said.

Balakrishnan, duringthe debate on the supplementary demands for 1999-2000, had charged that the DMK govt had indulged in irregularities in the construction of the 106 bridges and effected artificial increase in cement prices.

He also alleged that the government could not control the cement prices as Srinivasan, Chairman of the India Cements Ltd, was said to be ``very close'' to Karunanidhi. The Chief Minister angrily denied the charge and said he did not expect such a statement from a senior leader like Balakrishnan.

He added that the TMC, which had recently sold cement bags in its office (as a protest over hike in cement prices), had avoided paying sales tax for the sale as it ensured that the value of the cement sold was below Rs 3 lakh. Karunanidhi, asking the TMC to continue with the ``cement sale'', added that the TMC had suffered huge losses by organising the sale at nominal rates.Denying these charges, Balakrishnan said the TMC had not incurred any loss and instead, the party had profitted despite selling cement atcomparatively lower prices.

R. Chokkar (TMC) clarified that the sales would not attract tax since single-point taxation was in practice in the state. Cement was purchased from a whole-sale distributor who had already paid the tax, he added.