Voters of Tamil Nadu should put an end to ‘Robinhood' political culture of looting people's money and giving a portion of it back in the form of freebies, said the national president of Bharatiya Janata Party, Nitin Gadkari, on Thursday.
Addressing an election meeting at Tirupuvanam in Sivaganga district, Mr. Gadkari said that the forthcoming Assembly election was not meant to decide the future of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M. Karunanidhi or of general secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Jayalalithaa. It would decide the fate of the poor people of the State, who were suffering because of corruption and “family politics.” The time had come for the people to take a decision against corruption and vote for the BJP candidates in the interest of development and justice for the poor.
Introducing the party candidate for Manamadurai (Reserved) constituency, V. Viswanathan Gopalan, at the meeting, Mr. Gadkari said that wrong economic policies and bad governance of the United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre and the DMK in the State had resulted in price rise and inflation shooting to over 18 per cent. Prices were under control during the rule of the National Democratic Alliance government headed by A. B. Vajpayee, he said.
Citing corruption as the second largest issue facing the nation, the BJP leader opined that Mr. Karunanidhi, the “guide and philosopher” of former Union Telecommunications Minister A. Raja, should also be held responsible for the alleged scam in allocation of 2G spectrum.
Accusing the DMK and the Congress of playing a “non-serious role” in the fishermen issue, Mr. Gadkari said that even after the killing of over 500 fishermen, the issue had not been taken up.
