TNCC president K.S. Alagiri on Monday ridiculed AIADMK leader and Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami for his comments that “India is safe in the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”, saying only Mr. Palaniswami was safe under Modi’s rule.
“But for the support of Mr. Modi, the Chief Minister would be in some other place. The Principal Director of Income Tax (PDIT) had sent a note to the Director General of Income Tax (Investigation), about ₹641 crore distributed by the AIADMK to voters in the run up to the 2016 Assembly polls. But the Election Commission has not taken any action so far on the issue. In fact, Mr. Modi is using all these issues to keep the AIADMK government under its control,” Mr. Alagiri alleged.
The TNCC president, who travelled across the State for election campaigning, said the Congress manifesto promising ₹6,000 per month to the poor households was well received by voters.
“The BJP questions about the implementation of the project. But we have announced the scheme only after consulting economists in the country and abroad. India’s annual income is ₹230 lakh crore and the scheme would cost just ₹3.5 lakh crore. There is no truth in the BJP’s campaign that we will get the money from the taxes paid by the middle class,” he told The Hindu.
Recalling the award presented by the United Nations for lifting 15 crore people out of poverty during the erstwhile UPA regime, Mr. Alagiri said India sent senior BJP leader L.K. Advani to receive the award. “Today there is large scale unemployment and spiralling prices of essential commodities has severely affected the middle class and the poor,” he said.
Asked about the opinion that the votes expected to be polled by the candidates of the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam would decide the victory for the DMK-Congress combine, he said in every election a set of factors decided the outcome. “Mr. Dhinakaran’s role will be limited to an extent. He cannot emerge as a major factor,” he said. Mr. Alagiri claimed the prospects of the DMK-Congress alliance in the Western region of Tamil Nadu was increasing day by day.
Asked about the presence of crorepatis in the candidate list of all political parties, he said the situation had come to such a pass that no political party could be an exception to the trend. “Unless there is a revolutionary change, we cannot change it. In the 1980 election, I collected money from the people and contested. The situation has changed now,” he said.