T.N. neglected by BJP govt, says Kanimozhi

RAMANATHAPURAM

During the floods and cyclones in Tamil Nadu, when the State government had looked for assistance of around ₹ 1.20 lakh crore, the Centre released a meagre ₹ 5000 crore, said DMK MP Kanimozhi here on Wednesday.

Speaking at a poll rally in support of the DMK candidate Kadarbasha Muthuramalingam, she said that the BJP leaders in New Delhi had neglected the State. "When people were in a crisis due to the natural calamity, the Centre promised, but it was only broken," she claimed.

Instead of fighting with the Centre, the AIADMK leaders bowed down and thus the people suffered, she charged. The BJP, doesn't seem to have corrected itself. In case of the AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences), which they had announced for Madurai, only a compound wall had come up since the foundation stone was laid in 2019 January, while other States, where AIIMS was to be established, had eight completed or the construction was going on in full pace.

This was just a sample. The ineffectiveness of the AIADMK had come in for exposure in other projects, where the Central funds were involved, she charged.

Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his speech, Ms Kanimozhi said that the DMK leader A. Raja had apologised to the CM for his remarks. The DMK president M.K. Stalin too had condemned and cautioned the speakers in the party to be guarded while addressing in public rallies. "What more do the AIADMK and the BJP expect," she asked.

Conveniently forgetting the Hathra incident in UP, where a woman was gangraped, the BJP leaders had chosen to attack the DMK here. Trying to cash in on the sympathy from the electorate would not work. "The people are clever. This time, the DMK is going to win hands-down and the surveys created ripples among the AIADMK cadre," she said.

On the fishermen issue, she said that the DMK would keep its poll promise and positively take up the grievances with the Centre and the Sri Lankan government. The arrest of fishermen by the Lankan Navy would be stopped. A permanent solution would be in place, she said amidst applause from the gathering.