Maintaining a cordial relationship with the Centre was not a crime, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said here on Saturday.
Addressing a public meeting to mark former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran’s birth centenary at the Government College of Engineering here, he said that the people’s welfare was the top priority, and it was the State’s responsibility to obtain funds from the Central government for various projects.
Tamil Nadu had been maintaining a good rapport with the Centre ever since the MGR era, he said.
Without mentioning the DMK by name, he accused the party of being motivated only by power while dealing with the Central government. “If they failed to get the required portfolio, they would criticise the Central government endlessly. People know about them,” he added.
The Chief Minister contended that it was only due to the good relationship between the Tamil Nadu government and the Centre that 10 cities [in the State] had been chosen for the Smart City Mission, 6.79 lakh houses were sanctioned for the State and three airports — Hosur, Salem and Neyveli — were selected under the UDAN scheme. Taunting the DMK rule from 2006 to 2011, when it operated as a minority government, Mr. Palaniswami contended that his government enjoyed a majority, and that the DMK had no right to criticise it.
He questioned why the DMK failed to constitute the Cauvery Management Board when it was part of the coalition government at the Centre for 14 years. “Former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa succeeded in the Cauvery issue and we hope that the State gets a favourable order from the Supreme Court,” he added.
