Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Congress stages Statewide agitation against NDA policies

By Our Special Correspondent

Chennai Sept. 30. Congress leaders and cadres today staged a demonstration in front of Central Government offices at district headquarters in Tamil Nadu, protesting the "anti-people" policies of the Vajpayee regime.

The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president, S.Balakrishnan, led the demonstration here, while the working president, E.V.K.S.Elangovan, participated in the agitation in Madurai.

Addressing party workers at a demonstration near the Memorial Hall here, the AICC secretary, G.K.Vasan, criticised the Centre and the State Government for not pursuing the agenda of development. While the BJP at the Centre was spreading communal hatred, the State Government was only concentrating on "demolishing buildings and building new structures". The ruling establishment in Tamil Nadu neglected the interests of those who brought it back to power and it would have to pay the price for it.

Mr. Balakrishnan said the agitation was aimed at driving the BJP out of power from the Centre. S.G.Vinayagamurthy, MLA, addressed volunteers who raised the slogans of `Beware, danger to the country; Let's save the nation'.

Our Madurai Special Correspondent reports

Addressing a meeting after a demonstration near the Jawaharlal Nehru statue at Tallakulam here, Mr. Elangovan cautioned certain parties, including the AIADMK, against "interfering in the inner-party affairs of the Congress, blowing up the issue of groupism".

He denied that a factional war was raging in the State unit. "What is witnessed currently is a friendly competition among Congressmen as to who will work hard for the party and the groups are not vying with one another to share the spoils".

Coming down heavily on the NDA Government, Mr. Elangovan said several thousand government employees lost their jobs in the last over four years, though the Prime Minister promised to create one lakh jobs a year. Alleged involvement of Ministers in scams came to light, he added.

The Sangh Parivar attempted to drive a wedge between people of different faiths. Even months after the Gujarat riots, the minorities did not feel secure in the State under the BJP.

He urged the partymen to strive hard for reviving the `Kamaraj rule' in the State, besides helping the Congress to stage a comeback at the Centre under the leadership of Ms. Sonia Gandhi.

Partymen raised slogans against the economic policies of the Centre, besides demanding the removal of Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani, and the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, from the Cabinet.

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