The Hindu : Front Page : “Make DMK-led front win all 40 seats”

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 19, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

“Make DMK-led front win all 40 seats”

Special Correspondent

— Photo : M. Vedhan

DMK president M. Karunanidhi waving to the crowd at a meeting in Chennai on Saturday.

CHENNAI: People should make the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led Democratic Progressive Alliance victorious in all the 40 Lok Sabha constituencies [in the State and Puducherry] if the dream of E.V. Ramasamy, C.N. Annadurai and K. Kamaraj of making Tamil Nadu prosperous is to be fulfilled, DMK president and Chief Minister M. Karunaidhi said on Saturday.

Kickstarting the DPA poll campaign at a public meeting in Purasawalkam here, Mr. Karunanidhi referred to the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s electoral promise of scrapping the Sethusamudram ship channel project and wondered whether voters of the State were going to provide the authority to the AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa. If this was done, this would be suicidal, he said, adding that the project, when completed, would transform the economy of the State.

Recalling that the AIADMK, in its manifestos for the 2001 Assembly election and 2004 Lok Sabha poll, assured the voters that the project would be implemented in a timeframe, the DMK leader said what was sweetening to the Opposition party earlier had become bitter now.

He accused the AIADMK of taking a position that would benefit Sri Lanka economically.

Tracing the genesis of the project, Mr. Karunanidhi recounted how former Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai, within a few months of coming to power in 1967, gave a call for early implementation of the Sethusamudram project and other development projects beneficial to the State.

Expressing the hope that the DPA would score yet another emphatic victory in the election, the DMK leader referred to the forecast made by many pollsters that the Congress-led UPA government would retain power at the Centre.

He explained how the UPA government and the DMK government in the State were functioning for the welfare of the people. He emphasised the need for unity and coordination among constituents of the Alliance to ensure the victory.

TNCC president and candidate for the Salem Lok Sabha constituency K.V. Thangkabalu rejected the argument that the DMK government in the State would plunge into a crisis after the election.

He said so long as the Congress was there, so long as the DMK government enjoyed the goodwill of AICC president Sonia Gandhi, there would be no problem to the DMK government.

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi leader Thol. Thirmavalavan said the AIADMK alliance was a bundle of contradictions, while the DMK front was a natural alliance.

Earlier, the Chief Minister introduced all the 40 candidates of the DMK and its alliance partners.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page