Amit Shah: Both Jaya, Karuna impeded growth

Coming down heavily on both the DMK and AIADMK, which have been ruling Tamil Nadu for the last 50 years, BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday charged that their “corrupt deeds” had “fully affected Tamil Nadu’s development”.

Mr Shah, who was here to address an election meeting and also introduce all the 234 candidates of the BJP-led front for the May 16 Assembly elections, told a press conference on Wednesday that the state’s present growth was only due to the farming community.

He said that in every Assembly election, the people of Tamil Nadu, instead of choosing who should rule the state, are instead using it to decide who should be “sent out” from the government. Mr Shah urged that in the coming May 16 polls, people should rather decide who “should rule” Tamil Nadu.

The leaders of both DMK and AIADMK and the former’s alliance partner, the Congress, faced several corruption charges, he reminded.

But the BJP government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had achieved several good things in the last two years. This was despite bottlenecks to implement several good schemes, including the establishment of an AIIMS-like health institute, the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana, in Tamil Nadu due to the non-cooperation of the Tamil Nadu government.

Referring to the fishermen’s issue, he claimed that the Modi government saved the lives of five fishermen of TN from death penalty.