The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Is DMK serious about poll promises: Advani

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 01, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Is DMK serious about poll promises: Advani

Special Correspondent

Says BJP Governments at the Centre and in many States have done well

TIRUCHI: Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani on Sunday wondered whether the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was serious about the promises in its election manifesto.

Mr. Advani told the media that the Congress, as an alliance partner of the DMK-led front, was party to the poll promises made by the DMK. On the repeated statements of Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram supporting the freebies offered by the DMK, he said, "Why the promises made by him [Mr. Chidambaram] to the people of Tamil Nadu should not be extended to the whole country. How can the country's Finance Minister make promises of this kind?"

He said the BJP Government in Gujarat had provided 24-hour power supply under the `Jothigram' scheme to 14,000 villages of the total 18,000 villages in the State. This was in stark contrast to the DMK's promises.

"Earlier both the Dravidian parties [DMK and AIADMK] used to say they had nothing to do with the BJP. But now they cannot say so, as both were part of the earlier BJP-led governments at the Centre," he said.

The DMK had aligned with the Congress and the Left parties, which were doing great damage to the country's interests. He said the BJP Governments at the Centre and in many States had done well and appealed to the Tamil Nadu electorate to give his party the opportunity to serve as a constructive Opposition.

He said the Volker Committee report, the Quattrocchi episode and the Scorpene submarine issue were more serious than the Bofors scandal, and called upon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to make a statement about these controversies.

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