CHENNAI: DMK working president M.K. Stalin on Friday said the common candidate of Opposition parties for Presidential elections would be decided after the BJP announced its candidate.
Answering a query from the media if the DMK would support a common candidate of the Opposition, Stalin told reporters that Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had convened a meeting of Opposition parties and a decision had been taken at the meeting.
He also strongly came down on the remarks of dairy development minister K.T. Rajendra Balaji that there is nothing wrong in voting for the BJP candidate in the Presidential elections and said the remarks only proved the allegations of DMK that the state government is working like a bonded labourer of the Union government.
He said the DMK government had planned to link all rivers in the state and allocated funds for the project. However, the subsequent AIADMK government did not continue the process, he charged and asked the state government to link state rivers. He also cited the Supreme Court verdict to implement the plan to interlink rivers in the country. But, the Centre too has not started the process of linking rivers, he added.
Stalin alleged that several factions of the AIADMK are threatening the AIADMK government that they would topple the government if they are not given the appropriate commission. They had split only for the purpose of corruption and not for a good ideal.
He said the state government had began the desilting of water bodies only after the DMK indulged in such works. The works to desilt Mettur dam with fund allocation of Rs 300 crore was inaugurated by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami with full page advertisements in all the dailies, but the works had been disrupted, he charged.
Stalin promises change in state regime next year
Leader of Opposition M.K. Stalin has said everyone is asking him when he would change the present state government and he had assured that the position would have certainly changed by this time next year.
Speaking at the Iftar party here, he said "Wherever I go, whether it be airport, train journey, cinema theatre or beach people are asking me when I will change the government". People look at the present regime as a disease. Stalin said and added that it is continuing in power to plunder the state.
Referring to the ban on cattle sale for slaughter, he said Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisami had not reacted to it even after 20 days. He pointed out that Kerala Assembly had passed a resolution condemning the centre's move on cattle sale ban for slaughter and several Chief Ministers had opposed it.
Stalin also lashed out at the Centre and said the Union government is functioning in an arbitrary and autocratic manner.
Citing the 94th birthday function of DMK president M.Karunanidhi, he said national leaders who took party in the meeting had stressed on secularism and insisted on unity of all parties to fulfill the ideals of Karunanidhi.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not done anything good for the country in the last three years and he is not listening to the voice of farmers who are the backbone of the country and referred to the farmers protests in Madhya Pradesh. Modi is going from country to country without worrying about people's problems, he charged and added that the nation's economy had been hit severely by the demonetisation move.
