Chennai, April 12 (IANS) Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK Tuesday defended Deputy Chief Minister M.K.Stalin's comment about AIADMK chief J.Jayalalithaa's marital status during an election rally "as true and fair" and "not derogatory".

 
 Responding to the notice sent by the Election Commission of India Sunday upon an AIADMK complaint, the DMK's legal wing secretary R.S.Bharathy said a statement "is not derogatory when it is true".
 
 The AIADMK had complained that Stalin had said that since Jayalalithaa is unmarried, she is not interested in welfare schemes for poor women's marriages.
 
 According to DMK, Stalin's speech underscored the importance of the government assistance schemes for unmarried poor girls.
 
 It said Stalin's speech should be considered in the context that it was a DMK government that first introduced the marriage assistance scheme in 1989, offering a financial assistance of Rs.5,000 to poor girls. The scheme was stopped by Jayalalithaa when she came to power in 1991.
 
 When the DMK government revived the scheme in 1996, the AIADMK government stopped it again in 2001.
 
 The DMK reply also charged Jayalalithaa with being envious of Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi and his family as she does not have a family of her own.