Chennai: Union environment minister Prakash Javadaker accused the Dravidian majors of “playing a cruel joke on the voters” by making false assurances on implementing total prohibition and forming Lok Ayuktha.” Also, he charged Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa with copying Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s schemes and announcing them as her own in her party’s poll manifesto.
While the ruling AIADMK prevented the Centre’s good schemes from reaching people of Tamil Nadu, the opposition DMK appeared to make peculiar promises.
“Both the AIADMK and the DMK are talking about Lok Ayuktha and introducing total prohibition in Tamil Nadu. This is something unheard of. If Lok Ayuktha comes the leaders of both these parties will be in jail. So, this only means they will not allow Lok Ayuktha to be formed. Their promise is mere lip service,” Mr. Javadekar said on Friday.
Similarly on the prohibition issue, their assurances would never materialise. “It is because both AIADMK and DMK are for the liquor lobby, by the liquor lobby and of the liquor lobby; and not for democracy. They are playing a cruel joke on the people of Tamil Nadu and think voters can be taken for a ride,” he told reporters here on Friday. These parties construed Tasmac as the major source of revenue for these parties, he added.
The minister who had earlier raised the issues of “CM Jayalalithaa inaccessible” and TN government claiming credit for Central schemes; said the AIADMK poll manifesto had “Amma” stamp on the Central schemes. “The Thuimai Grammam is nothing but Modi’s Swachch Bharat. When we have planned this scheme for entire India, can we not carry this out in Tamil Nadu?” he asked and said Ms. Jayalalithaa’s promise of free internet was also borrowed from the BJP government which was implementing the free broadband for 2.5 lakh village panchayats across India.
“TN would also benefit through our free broadband scheme but the Jayalalithaa government had declined to grant us permission to lay the cables in the state,” Mr Javadekar said. The minister also accused the AIADMK government of not signing a MoU for harnessing wind energy.
On Ms Jayalalithaa’s assurance on providing 80 per cent subsidy to replace worn out agricultural pumpsets, he said his government was the first to announce free replacement of pump sets for farmers.
