The people of Tamil Nadu should put an end to the rule of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam that had “institutionalised corruption”, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat said on Thursday. All resources and benefits of Tamil Nadu, one of the fastest growing States in the country, should not go to a single family, he said.
Kick-starting the election campaign of the party here, he said Tamil Nadu needed a strong government that would generate suitable employment opportunities for youth, frame policies for development of agriculture, offer remunerative prices to farmers, ensure livelihood of workers and provide basic services to all. But a corrupt regime presided over by a single family was a misfortune for the people of Tamil Nadu, he said.
“Do you think that the drama of withdrawing support by the DMK was due to a bargain in offering three seats to the Congress? The actual negotiation was how to cover up the 2G spectrum corruption,” he said. In 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the CPI (M) had warned about corruption in spectrum allocation. Though the people did not believe it then, they had realised this now. The government must cancel 2G spectrum allocation and go for re-auction to offset the loss which was eight times the health budget and three times the total education budget. But the Congress would not do it because the companies which enjoyed the benefits would expose the party, he said.
Two major crises
The country had been facing two major crises — corruption and price increase — created by the DMK and Congress. Price rise was not due to increase in prices of commodities in global market as put forth by the Prime Minister but because of the Centre's wrong policies like de-controlling petrol price, he said.
“The CPI (M) has been ruling in three States and you will not find a single corruption charge against the Chief Ministers or other Ministers,” Mr. Karat said.
