The Central government must take steps to evacuate Indian students from Ukraine, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K.S. Alagiri said, adding it was worrisome that the government had claimed a few days back that there were not enough planes to bring them back.
Terming the statement as disappointing, Mr. Alagiri said, “While we have missiles that can go across continents, saying that we don’t have enough planes is not acceptable. It shows the incompetence of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Tamil Nadu Congress condemns them,” he said.
He said Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who will release Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s autobiography on February 28, will meet the newly elected representatives to the local bodies and deliver a speech at Satyamurthi Bhavan on India’s and Tamil Nadu’s politics, and on work that needs to be done in the local bodies.
Strong criticism
Mr. Alagiri also criticised the BJP and the AIADMK for their statements against the Congress. “BJP Tamil Nadu president [K. Annamalai] claims they are the third [third largest party after the civic polls]. You be the third or even the 30th. We are not bothered. But you should remember that you were also part of the AIADMK alliance in the Assembly polls. Everyone knows why you fought the local bodies elections alone. Was it your policy to fight alone? You formed a committee to discuss alliance issues with them. They were afraid to take you along due to defeats in the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls,” he said.
Minor scuffle
The press conference was disrupted when two current and former leaders of the Tamil Nadu Congress’ trade union had an argument on stage about one of them sitting on the stage. The argument escalated and several members of the Congress had to intervene and send them out of the hall. The minor scuffle happened even as Mr. Alagiri was on stage. Following their exit from the hall, the press conference resumed.
