Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister of State V. Narayanasamy on Monday charged Chief Minister N. Rangasamy with trying to take the people for a ride and said that he had not been able to implement any of the schemes announced in the election manifesto.
Addressing a meeting of party workers who forcibly locked ration shops at Vazhaikulam in the Raj Bhavan Assembly segment to register their protest against the government for its failure to implement the free rice scheme, Mr. Narayanasamy alleged that free rice was only distributed to cardholders in constituencies held by the ruling All India N.R. Congress while the opposition-held assembly segments were discriminated against.
He also alleged that there was a big scandal in the procurement of free rice by the government. A sum of Rs. 6 per kg was swindled by the intermediaries engaged for procuring the rice.
Mr. Narayanasamy said that there was a charge against him during the recent Lok Sabha polls that he was standing in the way of the then UPA Government in clearing the proposals for the Union Territory.
Now with the BJP-led government at the Centre, who was preventing the Chief Minister in the implementation of various welfare schemes, he sought to know.
The government had closed 15 Agri Retail Outlets operated by the Puduchery Agro Services and Industries Corporation (PASIC) and opened IMFL outlets at various places.
Though the Chief Minister had submitted a panel of three names to the Centre for appointment as nominated MLAs nothing had been heard so far.
The ruling AINRC had let down all sections of people. The party would intensify its agitation in the Union Territory to highlight the ‘failure’ of the AINRC government to properly implement the free rice scheme and close all shops, he added.
