Ramanathapuram: Slamming the Opposition for unfair criticism that his government was acting subservient to the BJP regime at the Centre, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Saturday said here that the state had now secured much by way of Central assistance and allocations only because of the close rapport between the two governments.
Recalling the announcement of a massive Rs.one lakh crore Central allocation to Tamil Nadu that Union Minister Nitin Gadkari made during his recent visit to Chennai, the Chief Minister said such a massive help was possible only because of the good relationship between his government and the Centre.
“They (DMK) are accusing us of being subservient to the Centre. But can they tell us what they had done for the people of Tamil Nadu when they were part of the Union Government as Congress allies?” asked the CM while addressing a massive rally as part of the MGR centenary celebrations.
Listing out the various projects initiated by the Jayalalithaa government, such as the Rs 20,000 crore Chennai-Bengaluru expressway and the Rs 900 crore expansion for Tuticorin port, the Chief Minister said, “The Centre has been supporting our government to carry out various projects only because of our close rapport with the Centre”.
Speaking earlier, deputy chief minister O. Panneerselvam recalled a story narrated by his late leader Ms Jayalalithaa that stressed the need for unity in order to be able to defeat the enemy. It was a story about the five fingers in a wrestler’s hand. While the man slept, the fingers fought among themselves on who was superior to the rest. But when an enemy attacked, the fingers got together and vanquished the adversary. “Such is the power of unity”, he said.
Party MP Dr V. Meitreyan, who has been in the news for his charge that the OPS followers are being treated as ‘second class’ members in the party, lashed out at the CM again on Saturday when OPS was not invited for the party’s celebration of the MGR centenary together with Jayalalithaa’s birthday and the retrieval of the two-leaves symbol at Madurai despite the temple town being OPS’ stronghold and his constituency Periyakulam is barely an hour away.
Also missing in the invitees list were the party MP and MLA from Madurai, which made it look that the CM’s gala celebration there was out of bounds for the OPS camp, argued Dr Meitreyan, looking very sad and bitter before the huge media gathering outside the Raj Bhavan, where he had gone to meet Governor Banwarilal Purohit.
Dr Meitreyan insisted that he had not discussed politics at the Raj Bhavan and was there along with industrialist A.C. Muthiah to invite the Governor for the 75th anniversary celebration of Tamilisai Sangam at the Raja Annamalai Manram on December 21.
