The five-year rule of the DMK degenerated into the monopoly of one family, cornering all resources of the State,” alleged CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat on Friday.
He was addressing the party's fund-raising campaign at Keezhvelur.
The country is dogged by two main issues, corruption and price rise and both are “direct attack on people's livelihoods.” Corruption was not merely an issue of a few, but was about “siphoning” off the country's resources that corroded the prospects of people's development.
Corruption under the UPA was “unprecedented.” The loss of revenue, estimated at Rs.1,76,000 crore, in the 2G spectrum scam was equivalent to siphoning off resources that could have been ploughed into health, education, and food security.
According to him, the estimated loss was equivalent to thrice the expenditure on education in the annual budget; eight times the expenditure on health; or thrice the expenditure on food subsidy under the PDS. The estimated loss could have provided for universal coverage under the PDS.
Despite the facts, the DMK chief and the Prime Minister were in denial. “The country's oldest ruling party did not spare even sports,” and the swindle in CWG was a case in point.
Mr. Karat said prices of petrol had gone up by Rs.10 a litre in the past six months, having a direct impact on prices of all other essential commodities. Criticising the “sick tax” of five per cent on health expenditure and 10 per cent tax on hosiery units in the Union budget, Mr. Karat said that the UPA government was adept at bailing out the corrupt, capitalists and corporates on while imposing burden on common people.
Terming the DMK's ‘withdrawal'of support for the UPA “drama,” he said that the issue was not about three constituencies. The investigation into the 2G scam had to reach its logical conclusion, with the unearthing of truth leading to the “door where the money trail finally knocked at and stopped,” here in Tamil Nadu.
Seeking “wider unity to fight against the DMK-Congress rule, he called for ouster of the “corrupt DMK regime.” Vasuki, State general Secretary, AIDWA; and R. Umanath, CPI (M) leader, were among those present.
