Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday accused the government led by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam of giving the State and its people a “bad reputation”.
Speaking at a public meeting in Karumathampatti to support Pongalur N. Palanisamy, the candidate of the Secular Progressive Alliance for the upcoming Sulur byelections, Mr. Chidambaram called the incumbent State government a “farce” and a “puppet government.”
Mr. Chidambaram said those who rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi must also reject the ‘jodi’, referring to Mr. Palaniswami and Mr. Panneerselvam. Criticising the State government for not condemning Union Minister Piyush Goyal for saying that the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) would continue to be conducted in Tamil Nadu, Mr. Chidambaram said the incident had exposed which side the AIADMK was on.
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Implementing schemes
Highlighting the promises made in the Congress manifesto, the senior Congress leader said a State government which was favourable and well disposed towards the Central government was necessary for implementing the schemes.
K.S. Alagiri, president, TNCC spoke at the event, describing the Secular Progressive Alliance as an “ideological alliance” which is “not opportunistic”. He claimed at the meeting that the seat-sharing talks between the DMK and the Congress for the Lok Sabha elections ended in three hours.
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Mr. Alagiri claimed that the previous Congress governments at the Centre had shared their powers with the States.