The Tamil Nadu Congress will hold a massive protest across the State seeking its rights over the Cauvery water and against Karnataka’s plan to construct a dam at Mekedatu, if the Karnataka government does not come to a conciliatory position, the party’s president K.S. Alagiri said on Sunday.
Mr. Alagiri also questioned the Tamil Nadu BJP leadership over the development projects undertaken by the party in the last eight years in the State. “When the UPA was there, we brought projects for Tamil Nadu. We built lots of bridges across Tamil Nadu. Under this BJP rule, has even a small portion of funds been provided for National Highways in Tamil Nadu compared to the UPA rule? We gave ₹2,000 crore for the Sethusamudram project. You [BJP] went to court and stalled it,” he claimed. Further, he said it was under the Congress rule, Tamil was given the status of ‘Semmozhi’ (classical language).
He said under the Vande Bharat scheme, not even a single train had been provided to Tamil Nadu. Mr. Alagiri said the State BJP president K. Annamalai’s statement that Tamil Nadu Ministers, MLAs cannot speak English or travel by plane was not something to be ashamed of. “If one doesn’t know their mother tongue, it can be criticised. What is so demeaning that someone doesn’t know another language? If they (BJP leaders) can speak well, they should go to the Centre and seek funds and projects for us,” he said.
