Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Sunday said at Kangeyam in Tiruppur district that the BJP and the AIADMK were feigning a farcical strain in their political ties.
“The BJP and the AIADMK are indulging in a farce by projecting semblance of a clash since they will otherwise be seen as putting up with corruption and communalism respectively,” Mr. Stalin said, adding that AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s recent one-on-one meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah was to plead for protection in view of the Supreme Court’s impending hearing in a corruption case against him [Mr. Palaniswami].
Recently, the AIADMK had declared that the BJP was no longer its ally in the State following a war of words with the national party’s State unit president, K. Annamalai, over his comments on Dravidian stalwart C.N. Annadurai.
Taunting the AIADMK for supporting the ‘One Nation, One Election’ idea of the BJP government at the Centre, Mr. Stalin said the Opposition party would lose its existing seats [in the State] if Assembly elections were to be held simultaneously with Parliamentary polls.
Addressing a programme to train party workers in the task of booth committee members, Mr. Stalin said the people were conscious of the BJP’s failure in fulfilling its poll promises.
According to him, it was only because of the realisation of its failure that the BJP was attempting to divert attention by projecting the G-20 summit, Chandrayan-III Mission, and the passing of Women’s Reservation Bill as its feats.
However, he said, fact remains that the G-20 chairmanship on rotational basis was only a routine matter and the moon mission was an outcome of decades of work by the Indian Space Research Organisation. As for the Women’s Reservation Bill, its likely implementation only by 2029 reveals the BJP’s attempt at deception, he added.
The orientation exercise was meant to train the cadre in reaching out to the people with the messages of achievements of the DMK government. The training for the cadre on their responsibilities in pursuit of a resounding victory in the 2024 election could be viewed as blowing poll bugle, Mr. Stalin said.
He further contended that there was a perceptible difference in the way people viewed the DMK’s commitment to their welfare, particularly after September 15, following the launch of the Kalaignar Mahalir Urimai Thittam under which a monthly grant of ₹1,000 will be given to an estimated 1.06 crore women-beneficiaries.
The BJP’s move to redraw Parliamentary constituencies, through a proposed delimitation exercise, depicted an ulterior motive of reducing representation in Parliament from South India, Mr. Stalin said.The training programme, covering party cadre in 50 Assembly constituencies in seven districts in the Western region was the third in line [after similar programmes that were held at Ramanathapuram for cadre of southern districts and at Tiruchi for cadre of central districts].
DMK general secretary and Minister Duraimurugan presided over the programme.
Party treasurer T.R. Baalu, senior leaders, including Ministers K.N. Nehru, K. Ponmudy and M.P. Saminathan, MPs and MLAs participated.
