Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad seals warm ties with CM Jayalalithaa

Describing the meeting as ‘very fruitful’, Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters that he had requested her to avail facilities being provided to the electronics sector by the Centre as TN had a very strong manufacturing base.”She responded very positively and I am sure Tamil Nadu along with the rest of India will march ahead on the road towards progress,” the union minister said. He said that he had also explained to the CM about Jan Dhan Yojana.

“I have great regard and respect for her as a popular leader. We discussed a lot of issues and every issue need not be discussed publicly. The BJP had an “enormous potential” to grow in Tamil Nadu,” he said.

He also pointed out that the ‘Digital India Project’ would transform the country in terms of digitally empowering every citizen with broadband connectivity and national optical fibre network.

Under the project, 60,000 panchayats would be covered in the current year and one lakh next year. One more lakh panchayats will be reached in the year thereafter.

He said that the BJP had great scope for development in the state and could occupy the vacuum created by the rout of the DMK and Congress if it worked hard. “The existing alliance with the Tamil (regional) parties will continue in TN,” he said, reacting to a query on whether his party would seek the support of the AIADMK in the next assembly elections. “There is still two years’ time,” he shot back when asked if there would be political realignment in TN.

In an informal chat with reporters ahead of addressing party members at Kamalalayam, the BJP state headquarters here on Thursday, Mr. Prasad said that he foresaw a “promising future for the BJP here, especially with the declining clout of the DMK and the Congress at an all time low in its history. The people of Tamil Nadu are looking for an alternative. I think if the BJP works hard, I am sure the present team will work unitedly in this direction, then the BJP will occupy that space,” he said.

Mr Prasad also said that Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had appreciated his proposal to set up an electronic goods manufacture cluster in TN provided the state offered land for it.

Speaking at the launch of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Mr Prasad said the scheme was being implemented in tune with the Prime Minister’s commitment to work for the uplift of the poor and ensure equitable development.

Launching the initiative in the state, Governor K. Rosaiah, said Mr. Modi’s “farsighted vision” would set the wheels in motion for improving the status of the poor.