The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Vote UPA for its track record: Chidambaram

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Tamil Nadu

Vote UPA for its track record: Chidambaram

Special Correspondent

— Photo: K. Ganesan.

FOR Election: Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram addressing an election meeting at Tiruppuvanam on Wednesday.

TIRUPPUVANAM (Sivaganga district): People should vote for the Democratic Progressive Alliance in the State on the basis of the track record of the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre, said the Union Home Minister, P. Chidambaram, on Wednesday.

Addressing an election meeting here, which forms part of the Sivaganga constituency from where he is contesting, Mr. Chidambaram said that the States were overdrawing from the Reserve Bank of India when the UPA government assumed office in 2004.

After five years, every State, except Kerala, had turned the corner and become fund-surplus. At present, they had Rs one lakh crore with them. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre could sanction only Rs 87, 000 crore as loans to farmers in five years, till 2004. Till March 2009, the UPA government had advanced Rs 2.75 lakh crore as farm loans, he said. Tamil Nadu alone received Rs 50, 000 crore in the last five years from the Union Finance Ministry for its various development schemes. The utilisation of these funds, along with its own, put the State on the path of development, Mr. Chidambaram argued. The UPA government also implemented schemes for the uplift of the marginalised sections and women.

According to him, only the Congress, by virtue of contesting in 470 seats, had the eligibility to form a government.

The other eligible party was the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had nominated candidates in about 350 seats. The UPA partners, by being in alliance with the Congress, shared the eligibility of being part of a government. How could the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, by contesting in 20 seats, form a government, he posed. The AIADMK general secretary, Jayalalithaa, the Union Minister alleged, was trying to use the Lok Sabha poll as a rehearsal for the Assembly election two years away. The same combination would defeat the AIADMK in the Assembly election also, Mr. Chidambaram said.

The Union Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation, G.K. Vasan, said the fight in Tamil Nadu was between the DPA that stood for democracy and an “opportunistic alliance” led by Ms. Jayalalithaa. In the last five years, the UPA government remained committed to development and involved itself in equitable distribution of funds across the States on schemes. Tamil Nadu alone got over Rs 50, 000 crore for infrastructure development because it had a government that had a cordial relationship with the Centre.

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