Tamil Nadu - Erode   

Don't get carried away by Jaya's freebies, warns Prakash Karat

Staff Reporter

`She dismissed thousands of Government employees, stifled democratic voices'

ERODE: Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Prakash Karat has called upon the voters not to get carried away by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's promises but remember her "anti-people" measures while voting on May 8.

Campaigning here on Tuesday in support of DMK candidate for Erode N.K.K.P. Raja, Mr. Karat reminded voters how with a single stroke of pen Ms. Jayalalithaa dismissed thousands of government employees, stifled democratic voices by preventing the Opposition from raising issues in the Assembly, passed anti-labour laws such as the TESMA, and misused the POTA against her political opponents. The present Government should be "punished" for these.

Terming the AIADMK Government "the most autocratic and anti-democratic," he said: "The fate of Tamil Nadu, known to have discerning and enlightened voters, cannot be left to the whims and fancies of a woman." He accused the AIADMK Government of being "anti-secular."

Recalling the 2004 May Lok Sabha election, in which the people of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry elected only Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) candidates, he said promises upon which the DPA rode to power were being implemented.

More in the pipeline

"A Common Minimum Programme has been formulated to take care of all sections. A few of the promises, including the one to pass Rural Employment Guarantee Act, have been fulfilled. Many more were in the pipeline."

For those promises to reach the people of Tamil Nadu, the State should have a Government that would work in tandem with the Centre. That Government could only be the DMK-led DPA Government, he said.

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