CHENNAI: Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin on Saturday took a swipe at the BJP-led NDA, saying its allies were “playing musical chairs” and asserted that voters in Tamil Nadu would give the alliance a “zero” in the forthcoming Assembly elections.
Addressing a meeting of DMK Youth Wing cadres in Virudhunagar, Stalin said the NDA deserved the same “zero” it had given Tamil Nadu in the Union Budget. “The Union Budget gave nothing to Tamil Nadu. The people will return that zero to the NDA in the election,” he said.
Mocking the NDA’s internal churn, Stalin said several former allies had left the alliance in the last election, while others had joined for opportunistic reasons. “The NDA is not about people’s welfare. It is only about survival,” he said, predicting a massive victory for the DMK-led alliance and a decisive defeat for the NDA.
In a veiled reference to actor-politician Vijay, the Chief Minister said some leaders found it difficult to organise even a single public meeting, while the DMK was holding political conferences every week. Recalling the party’s sweep of all 40 Lok Sabha seats in the last election, he asked cadres if they were ready to set a new record by winning 200 Assembly constituencies, and urged them to work relentlessly till the last minute of the campaign.
Attacking the BJP-led Union government, Stalin said India was a Union of states and accused the Centre of steadily eroding the rights of the states. “They are trying to reduce state governments to the level of municipalities. But Tamil Nadu will never bow,” he said, reiterating the DMK’s stand on federalism and state autonomy.
Taking aim at the AIADMK, Stalin said parties that had abandoned self-respect and state rights were bound to be defeated. “Those who act as slaves and betray the State cannot protect Tamil Nadu’s interests,” he said.
Claiming that Tamil Nadu was leading the country in development, the Chief Minister said the State had received “only zero and empty assurances” in the Union Budget. He accused the Leader of the Opposition, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, of failing to raise his voice against the Centre on issues affecting the State.
Deputy Chief Minister and DMK youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin, deputy general secretary Kanimozhi, and Ministers KKSSR Ramachandran and Thangam Thennarasu participated in the meeting.