Both the DMK and the AIADMK are working closely in Theni to defeat AMMK candidate T.T.V. Dhinakaran, said T.N. BJP president K. Annamalai on Saturday, April 13, 2024, and appealed to voters to foil the plan of the Dravidian majors.
Mr. Dhinakaran’s AMMK is contesting in the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the BJP in Tamil Nadu.
Speaking at an election rally to seek votes for Mr. Dhinakaran, the BJP leader said that there was a secret understanding between the two Dravidian parties here. There will be trouble for both the DMK and the AIADMK in the event of a win by Mr. Dhinakaran, he claimed, as the AIADMK cadre would immediately follow the AMMK leader en masse. The chemistry amongst political parties in Tamil Nadu would change for good in the next two years, he claimed, as Mr. Dhinakaran had the ability to bring together good leaders, in the larger interest of developing Tamil Nadu.
Attacking AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami of having pledged the party to contractors and illegal miners, Mr. Annamalai said that instead of giving tickets to loyal party functionaries, Mr. Palaniswami had chosen contractors and sand-miners to contest in the election.
Likewise, he charged that the DMK would go to any extent to defeat Mr. Dhinakaran here as they have ill-gotten money amassed from narcotics and other corrupt means. Attributing this claim to T.N. minister P.T.R. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, who in an audio clip had purportedly revealed that both the son and son-in-law of T.N. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had amassed ₹30,000 crore, Mr. Annamalai said the DMK would not hesitate to spend this money during the elections. [Mr. Rajan had said the audio clip was fake]. The DMK may spend even ₹3,000 crore in Theni to defeat Mr. Dhinakaran, he alleged.
Comparing Mr. Dhinakaran’s long absence from Theni from where he was elected as MP 16 years ago, to Lord Ram’s exile into the forest, Mr. Annamalai said Mr. Dhinakaran had now returned to Theni due to a compulsion to save Tamil Nadu from the hands of the DMK and AIADMK.
Denying that the Union government had given nothing to Tamil Nadu as claimed by the DMK government, Mr. Annamalai said that from 2014 to 2024, a whopping ₹10.76 lakh crore had been given under several heads. The LPG refill subsidy, ₹6,000 as financial assistance to farmers, 11 government medical colleges and drinking water projects such as the Jal Jeevan Mission, were a few he named. Similarly, he said that under the MGNREGA scheme, the Prime Minister had released ₹60,000 crore to the State. The daily wage, which was ₹174, had been enhanced to ₹284 and recently, the Union government had increased it further to ₹324 for each beneficiary.
The DMK, he said, had betrayed the farmers here on the Mullaperiyar reservoir issue. Due to its siding with the Kerala government in 2006, the rights of the farmers were lost. To make good, he appealed to the people to vote for Mr. Dhinakaran, who would be able to move things in New Delhi for the betterment of Theni.
Mr. Annamalai also complimented Mr. Dhinakaran for his efforts in forming and bringing the alliance together in T.N. that is headed by the BJP for the 2024 elections.
The BJP leader later left by helicopter for Ramanathapuram, to campaign for O. Panneerselvam.
