DMK chief M. Karunanidhi on Friday sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi “to comply with the popular demand of Tamil Nadu” to withdraw the proposal to shift the headquarters of the Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology (CIPET) from Chennai to New Delhi.

“The people of Tamil Nadu in general and labour unions in particular are very much agitated over the proposed move of the Centre. This move has no convincing reason or acceptable logic and in fact it is a retrograde step,” Karunanidhi said in a letter to Modi, a copy of which was released to the media.

The DMK president recalled a similar move during the Vajpayee government in 1999, which was strongly opposed by him, as the Chief Minister of the State.

“Suresh Prabhu, the then Union minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers wrote to me, affirming that there was no proposal to shift the CIPET headquarters. Such was the helpful attitude of the Vajpayee government in responding to the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu,” Karunanidhi said.

CIPET was established in 1968 with an objective of promoting plastic tools and dye-making industries in the country. It has grown into a premier institution of plastics engineering and technology with 27 centres spread across the country in almost all important cities.