DMK Treasurer MK Stalin kick-started his canvass for A Raja in Nilgiris Parliamentary constituency here on Friday without making even a passing reference to the 2G spectrum issue which forced this sitting Member of Parliament (MP) and former telecom Minister to spend 15 months in Tihar jail.
During his campaign in the constituency so far, Raja, on the other hand, was seen justifying his stand in 2G Spectrum allocation as also the decisions he had taken as Communications and IT Minister leading to increase in phone subscribers and reduced tariff.
Stalin’s 18-minute speech from his campaign van with Raja standing by his side focused on the work Raja had done for the Nilgiris and the absence of AIADMK’s contribution to this revenue district.
“It was DMK which exempted Nilgiris from power cut to help the tea industry here but there is no power in AIADMK rule which came to power contending to drive away power outage from the entire State,” he said.
Claiming that a drinking water project with an outlay of Rs 16 crore was implemented for Coonoor during DMK rule due to Raja’s insistence, he said presently, the government was selling water for `10 per bottle, something unheard of in any State or, for that matter, any country. DMK’s another water scheme, Kadanad cluster, at an outlay of ` 20 crore benefited 170 villages in Nilgiris, he said.
The DMK regime had also laid the National Highway up to Kakkanalla at an outlay of ` 100 crore, wiped out farmers’ loans and issued house site patta to many. But, AIADMK Government had not issued pattas to many in Gudalur belt.
The DMK Government had created arboretum in six acres in Ooty and concretised the footpath around Ooty Lake after removing hyacinth, he said.
“Raja needs no introduction in Nilgiris. He had helped thousands who were stranded by floods and landslides,” Stalin added.
Earlier, Stalin was accorded a rousing reception by the party cadre when he arrived in the constituency.