AIADMK co-coordinator and Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday sought to highlight “strong leadership” at the Centre as a key plank of the NDA’s Lok Sabha election campaign in Tamil Nadu.
Introducing the alliance’s candidate for the Salem Parliamentary constituency, K.R.S. Saravanan, at a meeting in the district, he said that only strong leadership, as projected by BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would ensure national security, which was vital for the country’s development.
Mr. Palaniswami exhorted the functionaries of alliance parties to work hard and hand-in-hand to ensure the continuity of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre. “A strong leadership is needed at the Centre to ensure national security. National security is essential for national development and only Prime Minister Narendra Modi can ensure the security of this nation,” he contended.
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With the Opposition parties not projecting anyone as a Prime Ministerial candidate, Mr. Palaniswami sought to drive home the point that in the AIADMK alliance, there was no need for any second thoughts on who would be the Prime Minister after the election, as Mr. Modi was the face of the alliance.
“DMK president M.K. Stalin proposed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as a Prime Ministerial candidate during an event to unveil late Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s statue in Chennai. But Telugu Desam [Party] leader and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and various other Opposition leaders immediately opposed the idea, saying they would choose their Prime Ministerial candidate after the election,” he recalled. There is no unity among the Opposition parties, he added.
He claimed that, based on the vote share of the AIADMK and its allies in past elections, the NDA would win all 39 constituencies in Tamil Nadu.
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He also attacked Mr. Stalin, saying he lacked leadership qualities. “His father Karunanidhi made him only the party’s working president as he himself was not confident about his son’s abilities,” the AIADMK leader claimed.
He alleged that the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance was a ‘selfish’ alliance in which only family members of political leaders were given positions of power. He claimed that when the DMK was part of the Congress-led government at the Centre for about 10 years, it did not bring any benefit to Tamil Nadu.
The DMK, which was now accusing the BJP of being communal, had tied up with the national party in the past, he pointed out.
According to him, cooperation between the State and the Centre was necessary for Tamil Nadu’s development.
Lauding the AIADMK government, PMK president G.K. Mani said that besides emerging the victor in the Lok Sabha polls, the party would win the bypolls to 18 Assembly seats as well.
The AIADMK will begin its campaign on Friday from Karamandurai in Salem.