CHENNAI: Despite strong political and ideological differences between the DMK and the BJP and the frequent face-offs between the parties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister MK Stalin displayed a rare bonhomie when they shared the stage at two public events in Chennai on Saturday. While the PM stayed clear of political comments and said Tamil Nadu’s development is a priority for his government, CM Stalin made a slew of demands to the PM and underscored the need to strengthen state autonomy to ensure true federalism in the country.
The PM inaugurated completed works and laid foundation stone for several infrastructure projects at the event in Pallavaram on Saturday. After a warm reception at the Chennai airport, the DMK president briefly held the PM’s hand and patted the back of his palm while looking at the exhibits displayed at the new Chennai airport terminal. While the leaders displayed camaraderie, cadres of the Congress, the DMK’s principal ally in Tamil Nadu, organised protests at several places against the PM’s visit over Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification as MP.
Speaking at the function in Pallavaram, where he launched several schemes, the PM said the state had received an all-time high funding of Rs 6,000 crore for building rail infrastructure in the current budget. The average allocation per year between 2009 and 2014 was less than Rs 900 crore, he said.
“Between 2004 and 2014, the length of national highways built in Tamil Nadu was about 800km but between 2014 and 2023 nearly 2,000 km of NH was added to the state,” Modi said. Touching upon investments in development and maintenance of national highways in TN, the PM said in 2014-15, around Rs 1,200 crore was spent for that, but in 2022-23, the spending increased six-fold to over Rs 8,200 crore.
The PM highlighted the number of important projects in Tamil Nadu in the last few years and gave the examples of Defence Industrial Corridor in strengthening India’s security, PM MITRA mega textile parks, and laying the foundation stone for the Bengaluru-Chennai expressway. He also said the construction of a multi-modal logistics park near Chennai is also under way while the entire East Coast Road from Mamallapuram to Kanyakumari is being widened under the Bharatmala project.
The CM said the union government’s cooperation in executing schemes and fulfilling the states’ financial requirements is a must, he added. “Since the PM was also a CM in the past, I hope he will understand the importance of my demand,” Stalin said.
The CM also urged the PM to direct the NHAI to speed up ongoing road projects including Chennai-Maduravoyal Expressway, Chennai-Tambaram Expressway, making East Coast Road a four-lane road, and converting Chennai-Kanchipuram-Vellore Highway and Chennai-Madurai Highway into six-lane roads.
Stalin said Vande Bharat rail service should be started between Chennai and Madurai and ticket fare for Vande Bharat service should be reduced.BJP state president K Annamalai was conspicuous by his absence. Party sources said he is busy with Karnataka elections.