Make vow to form corruption-free government in Tamil Nadu, Amit Shah tells cadre

CHENNAI: BJP national president Amit Shah on Monday exhorted the party office-bearers in Tamil Nadu to work towards formation of a corruption-free government in the State and said the alliance, which could be decided after September, would be strong enough to root out corruption. Shakti Kendra office-bearers should take the party to the booth level, he said, adding that in October, over 1.25 lakh in charge of all booths would be meeting in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. So, all booth-level works should be completed by September, he told the office-bearers. 

In contrast to his maiden speech in Tamil Nadu in December, 2014, in which he called upon the people to end the cyclical misrule of the Dravidian parties and to take Tamil Nadu on board with Narendra Modi’s mission for growth, on Monday he avoided mentioning the names of Dravidian majors. Addressing the gathering of over 16,000 Shakti Kendra office-bearers of the party from across the State at a private beach resort on the outskirts of Chennai, Amit Shah said, “The BJP had removed corruption in many States by forming government in those States.

I am worried that Tamil Nadu has been the most corruption-ridden State. I call upon you all to make a ‘sankalp’ (vow) to form a corruption-free government in Tamil Nadu too. The BJP cadre should engage in a war against corruption in all spheres of the State including the grassroot-level local bodies.”Dispelling the wrong notion that the BJP was against the Tamil ethos and pride, Amit Shah said, “the BJP is not lagging behind any other party in upholding the Tamil pride. For example, under the earlier regimes, Tamil was not there in train tickets. But now Tamil is there. It is the BJP’s policy that the cadre should uphold the culture and tradition of each State. The moment BJP assumes power in Tamil Nadu, it will take the glory of the Tamil language beyond this State.”

Stating that during the UPA 
regime at Centre, Rs 94,540 crore was allocated for Tamil Nadu under 13th Finance Commission, Amit Shah reeled out statistics about the whopping financial allocation of `1.99 lakh crore made under 14th Finance Commission to Tamil Nadu by the NDA government.  Besides, under various heads, the government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had allocated Rs.5.10 lakh crore to Tamil Nadu during the past four years. 

Referring to opposition to his visit to Chennai in the social media, the BJP president referred to a Tirukkural couplet, which says “The culture of Tamils is that they always expect and welcome guests and extend hospitality.” Tamil Nadu BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan, party’s national general secretary 
P Muralidhar Rao, Rajya Sabha MP L Ganesan, national secretary H Raja and other functionaries reiterated that the BJP was growing by leaps and bounds in Tamil Nadu.