Selvaperunthagai blames BJP for south TN’s poor growth

MADURAI: TNCC president K Selvaperunthagai on Sunday said that the BJP has hindered the development of southern Tamil Nadu by stalling the Sethusamudram Ship Canal project, arguing that it would have led to the creation of jobs.

The saffron party scuttled the project initiated by the Congress-led UPA government, he said. The BJP government and the RSS moved the Supreme Court and stalled the development project, hitting southern Tamil Nadu’s growth badly, he said.

While talking to reporters at the airport in Thoothukudi, the TNCC president said that the Congress regime made Thoothukudi port the fulcrum of south Tamil Nadu’s growth, especially in large-scale industrial implementation. But now the BJP government is not concerned about the development of the southern region, he alleged.

The AIADMK is remaining silent on such issues as it is in alliance with the saffron party, he alleged. The opposition party isn’t even objecting to criticism of Dravidian stalwarts such as CN Annadurai, J Jayalalithaa, he said. He claimed that the AIADMK-BJP alliance is frail, arguing that the Dravidian majors’ cadre are not ready to accept the tie-up.

Taking a dig at AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami for his comments on drug abuse, claiming that it’s widely prevalent in the State, the Congress leader said EPS should have asked the Union government to prevent illicit drugs from being smuggled into Tamil Nadu from two major seaports in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

Selvaperunthagai wondered why the central agencies, including the Narcotics Control Bureau, weren’t able to stop drug trafficking, pointing out a massive seizure at Adani’s Mundra Port this year.