Madurai
Information on the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) distributing money to canvass voters is spreading and the AIADMK distributes money through a few contractors and government officials, according to Communist Party of India (Marxist) State Secretary K. Balakrishnan.
Addressing the media persons here on Tuesday, Mr. Balakrishnan claimed that several surveys predict that Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led alliance will win the upcoming assembly elections.
The public is criticising the ruling government in the wake of rising prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas.
“The AIADMK has announced that they will distribute six cooking gas cylinders in a year free to each family. However, the people are questioning why no step has been taken to reduce the price or distribute free gas cylinders, all the while when the AIADMK was in power,” he asked.
Mr. Balakrishnan criticised the BJP’s announcement that the administration of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department temples would be handed to a separate board comprising Hindu scholars and saints.
“First of all, how do we identify who are the scholars who can be part of the board? Apart from being places of religious importance, the temples have many sculptures which have a significant historical importance. Can they all be preserved, if administration of temples is to be given to this board?” he asked.
He charged that the AIADMK had not implemented the promises that were announced in their 2016 election manifesto.
CPI (M) Polit Bureau member G. Ramakrishnan said that CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury had written to the Chief Election Commissioner demanding 100% tally of all EVM machines with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) for the coming assembly elections. "We are demanding that this must be implemented in assembly elections that are scheduled to be held on April 6 in Tamil Nadu," he added.