COIMBATORE: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday said Tamil Nadu’s superfast engine will never bow before the BJP’s dabba engine.
Addressing the party’s west zone booth agents’ conference in Coimbatore, Stalin likened the AIADMK-BJP alliance to a circus, with the BJP as the ringmaster, and called it an opportunistic coalition formed solely for elections. Targeting AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, Stalin described him as a “betrayer” for aligning with the BJP and urged party cadre to “expose such people and gift them defeat.”
In contrast, Stalin said, the DMK-led alliance forged ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls to defeat “fascist forces” had endured multiple elections with ideological commitment.
Hitting out at PM Modi for his recent praise of Jayalalithaa, Stalin recalled her past political attacks on Modi and said the BJP-led union government had failed to deliver tangible benefits to Tamil Nadu despite being in power for 12 years.
“With no achievements of its own to showcase, the BJP now believes that praising Jayalalithaa will fetch votes,” he said, adding that the people of Tamil Nadu would not be swayed by “political theatrics,” especially when no major projects or special schemes were announced for the State in the Union Budget despite elections approaching.
The Chief Minister also accused the Centre of discriminating against Tamil Nadu by withholding funds and delaying approvals for key infrastructure projects, including proposed Metro Rail projects in Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchy, while approving the Ahmedabad Metro.
He also raised concerns about delays in clearing the proposed airport at Hosur and in releasing the full share of funds for the Chennai Metro Rail expansion.
“By withholding funds, the BJP is deliberately creating an artificial financial crisis in Tamil Nadu,” Stalin alleged.