Thambidurai, OPS sing anti-BJP tune

While Thambidurai echoed rebel leader TTV Dinakaran’s views that the state had been ignored in the budget, Panneerselvam, in a rare show of aggression, asserted that the party would take up the path shown by the late chief minister J Jayalalithaa in opposing the Centre for protecting the rights of the state. 

Regarded as a leader in the ruling party with good rapport with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Panneerselvam recalled how Jayalalithaa had raised her voice against the Centre, regardless of the party in power, if the latter went against the interests of Tamil Nadu. 

After ignoring the criticisms of parent organisation, Dravidar Kazhagam, till now, Panneerselvam responded to DK president K Veeramani’s charge that the AIADMK was using the late leader CN Annadurai only as a label in its flag. In a rare response that came on the same day, he termed the charge as false and claimed that the party has been following the ideals of Anna. The government would convey the state’s just demands to the Union government and obtain the state’s rights, he asserted. 

The Deputy Chief Minister also declared that the state government would adopt the legal course to press for the release of Cauvery water from Karnataka, which had refused the request for 7 thousand million cubic feet (TMCFT) of water. Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Delhi, Thambidurai said the Centre had not allocated sufficient funds to the schemes of the state, which had been hit by the introduction of the GST. 

He also supported the idea of holding simultaneous polls to Parliament and Assembly, a move which would cut short the Palaniswami government’s tenure.  Taking exception to the use of Hindi in the Union Budget, he demanded that Tamil should be declared as one of the national languages.