Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K. Selvaperunthagai on Tuesday appealed to the party’s former president Rahul Gandhi to contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha election from Sriperumbudur, a place where his father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991.
During an interaction with journalists, he said that opinion polls published so far had shown that the people of Tamil Nadu wanted Mr. Rahul Gandhi as the next Prime Minister. “Across India and Tamil Nadu, Congressmen want Mr. Gandhi to contest in their constituency and State. In Tamil Nadu, district congress presidents have urged our leader to contest from here. I, too, would like to invite him to contest from Sriperumbudur,” he said.
The constituency is currently represented by DMK treasurer T.R. Baalu. In a statement, Mr. Selvaperunthagai also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his speech on Monday, accusing the ruling DMK of indulging in corruption and proliferation of drugs.
In a statement, Mr. Selvaperunthagai said the present rate of unemployment in India was at a 45-year high and slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his speech in Chennai on Monday, in which he launched a scathing attack on the ruling DMK accusing it of indulging in corruption, maladministration and proliferation of drugs.
“The unemployment is 44.5% among graduates aged between 20-24, 14.33% among those aged between 25-29. In Railways last year, around 2.8 crore candidates competed for lower-level job vacancies of around 90,000. There is no need for evidence beyond this,” he said.
Mr. Selvaperunthagai also rejected Mr. Modi’s charge that DMK did not appropriately carry out flood mitigation measures and was unconcerned about the people’s plight, by pointing out that the State government had sought ₹37,000 crore from the national disaster management fund from Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
“Mr. Shah had promised it would be given to Tamil Nadu after January 27. But, Mr. Modi, who is shedding fake tears, hasn’t given even a single paisa,” he said.
He pointed out how the CAG report had flagged irregularities in the Highway Department projects to the tune of ₹7.5 lakh crore.
“In the draft plan of Dwaraka highway project, it was estimated that it would cost ₹18 crore to construct 1 km, but in the end, it cost ₹250 crore to construct 1 kilometre. Who benefited from this?” the Congress leader asked.
While 2G scam alleged by the CAG report was used to “defame the Congress” during the last two Lok Sabha elections and the accused were subsequently acquitted by the CBI court, Mr. Selvaperunthagai asked why hasn’t there been an investigation into the latest findings of the CAG report. He further said that Congress stalwart Jawaharlal Nehru, his father Motilal Nehru and other members in his family had gone to jail fighting for India’s freedom.
“Mr. Modi hails from a tradition that has never done anything for freedom movement. He has no qualification to talk about the Congress. The day is not far when secular and democratic forces capture power at the Centre,” he felt.
