CHENNAI: DMK deputy general secretary A Raja on Monday said Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s frequent visits to the state would boost DMK alliance’s seat count in the upcoming Assembly elections, just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visits led to their landslide victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking to the media at Anna Arivalayam, Raja, The Nilgiris MP, said, “Without regard for the responsibilities that come with the post of union home minister, Shah’s speech in Madurai indulged in slander, he made baseless allegations, attempted to incite communal tensions in the state, all for political gain.”
Raja said, “At its core, Shah’s speech can be described as a blatant lie, a disgusting deception, and cunningly divisive.”
He said while the BJP may find success in states like Haryana, Maharashtra, and Delhi, it cannot win in Tamil Nadu, as the state is grounded in a strong ideological foundation. “As long as Dravidian ideology is there, they cannot gain foothold in Tamil Nadu. We are not Delhi, Maharashtra and Haryana. We are Tamil Nadu, we are Dravidam, (BJP) cannot come here,” he said.
Rejecting Shah’s claim that the TN government had fulfilled only 10% of its election promises, Raja said, “Over 98% of the promises have been fulfilled. The demand for the government employees’ old pension scheme is the only pending issue, and even for that, a committee has been formed by the chief minister.
Moreover, several welfare schemes that were not even part of the manifesto are being implemented.”He also questioned why the BJP is not talking about delimitation. He criticised Shah’s love for Tamil by asking, “Then why did the union government not approve the archaeological report on the Keezhadi findings?”
He also rejected Shah’s claim that the BJP-led union government allocated more funds than the previous Congress regime, stating that despite a fourfold increase in direct tax revenue, Tamil Nadu receives a lower share under the BJP.
On the BJP’s upcoming conference on Lord Muruga in Madurai, Raja claimed it was being held with the intention of creating communal rift and derive political mileage out of that.
In Madurai, Shah on Sunday asserted that the NDA would form governments in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal next year and targeted the DMK regime in the state by firing fresh “corruption salvos”. BJP is part of the AIADMK-led NDA in Tamil Nadu.
On Shah’s statement that BJP-AIADMK combine will form the government in TN next year, Raja said AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami alone can clarify whether that implies power sharing.
