The two main Dravidian parties which ruled Tamil Nadu have created a culture of offering money to voters at the time of elections and distributing freebies without having any vision of overall development of the State, BJP leader and Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday.
Noting that Tamil Nadu was once an “advanced” State in the areas of education and industrial development, Ms.Sitharaman said a big question mark had arisen over the State’s industrial growth now.
Seeking support for the BJP candidates contesting in Srirangam, Tiruchi (East) and Manachanallur at an election meeting in Srirangam, Ms.Sitharaman said BJP-ruled States such as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh had shown progress only because the governments in those States had a definite vision for overall development.
The Dravidian parties, which had been distributing freebies to the people of Tamil Nadu failed to focus on overall development, the Minister claimed.
Although Tamil Nadu had organised a global investors meet, she asked if investments had really poured into the State after that.
Despite having been a part of the UPA-I and II regimes for a decade, the DMK too had not brought about overall development of the State, she alleged.
She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was keen to take all States on board and ensure their overall development.
Citing the case of Tamil Nadu, she said the Modi government had announced funds for development of harbours. Tamil Nadu needed an alternative now, she said, claiming that only the BJP could usher in that change.
Earlier, she participated in a rally in Chennai.
