Only a stable government at the Centre with the AIADMK holding an integral part can address the genuine issues of Tamils, said Chief Minister and party supremo J Jayalalithaa here on Wednesday.
Addressing a public meeting at Sankarankoil to seek votes for Tenkasi candidate Vasanthi Murugesan, Jayalalithaa said, “Though the AIADMK government initiated several steps in the interest of Tamils, the Centre did not pay heed to them. Besides, the Congress government appealed against the case I had filed in the Supreme Court for reclamation of Katchatheevu. The Congress ignored my government’s repeated requests to save Tamil fishermen from the Lankan navy attacks.”
Accusing the Centre of stepmotherly treatment, Jayalalithaa said that the Centre stopped allotting the required quota of kerosene to Tamil Nadu and denied the funds recommended by the 13th Planning Commission. The Union government neither gave its approval for establishing the fourth Thermal Power Corporation at Thoothukudi nor made any effort to resolve inter-State disputes like Cauvery and Mullaiperiyar, she charged. Terming the Congress-led government anti-people, Jayalalithaa said that the Centre failed to safeguard the interest of the common man.
Besides, the Congress permitted the oil companies to fix fuel prices at their discretion, resulting in frequent increase in petrol prices, she said. Blaming the Congress for ruining the government machinery through a number of scams.
Coming down heavily on the DMK, Jayalalithaa said, “Though the DMK was part of the UPA for almost nine years and was in power at the Centre under various alliances for 17 years, it failed to look into the issues of the people of the State. Their 98-page manifesto is full of false promises.”
Criticising the DMK for being concerned more about its chief Karunanidhi and his family, Jayalalithaa said the DMK had lost interest in serving people. The people should teach a lesson to the DMK by voting it out in such a way that the party lost its deposit in all constituencies.
“In Tenkasi constituecy, the AIADMK government spent `9,77,28,000 crore for constructing bypass road in Tenkasi and `17,51,34,000 crore for the Sankarankoil bypass. We established a child care unit for the newborns,” she said.