Virtually kicking off his campaign for the Lok Sabha elections due next year, DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on August 27 lambasted the BJP government at the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for calling the DMK “corrupt”.
Speaking at the wedding ceremony of the daughter of the Nagapattinam MP, M. Selvaraj of the Communist Party of India at Pavithramanickam in Tiruvarur district, Mr. Stalin said the Prime Minister had no moral right to speak about corruption as the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report has exposed the “corrupt deeds” of the BJP government at the Centre.
The CAG report has brought to light “corruption” to the tune of several crores of rupees in various schemes including the Bharatmala, Dwarka Expressway, Ayodhya development, HAL aircraft design projects, collection of tolls at highway toll plazas and Ayushman Bharat Scheme, he charged.
Insurance claims have been disbursed in the name of deceased patients through bogus claims that they were being treated under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme. Irregularities have been detected in the collection of toll at five toll plazas, including the one at Paranur in Tamil Nadu. Corruption to the tune of several crores have been unearthed in the other schemes too, he claimed.
The Central Vigilance Commission in a report has said the maximum number of corruption cases have been filed against officials of Home Ministry among the Ministries of the Union government, Mr. Stalin said.
“These are the people who claim that they will root out corruption. To cover up their misdeeds, they are making false allegations against the DMK and misusing agencies such as the CBI, Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate to threaten us,” he said, conceding that he was launching the election campaign from Tiruvarur as desired by the CPI State Secretary, R. Mutharasan.
Claiming that the State had been rescued by the alliance led by the DMK, he said the Opposition parties’ next objective was to save democracy and the nation by dethroning the “fascist and autocratic” BJP rule at the Centre. For this, the I.N.D.I.A. bloc of Opposition parties has been formed. Mr. Stalin said important decisions will be taken at the next meeting of the alliance to be held in Mumbai, which he would be attending.
Mr. Stalin affirmed that the alliance with the CPI would continue for the forthcoming Parliamentary elections also.
