Not monsoon preparation, elitist DMK only interested in racing, says AIADMK’s Jayakumar

CHENNAI: Senior AIADMK leader and former minister D Jayakumar on Sunday slammed the DMK government for having misplaced priorities, for the conduct of Formula 4 racing on Chennai roads.

Instead of focusing on the people’s issue and redressing their grievances, the government is giving priority to the Formula 4 night street race, he said talking to reporters. “The government neither made proper arrangements for the conduct of the race nor obtained FIA certificate in advance,” he said.

“If the government instead organised sports events to facilitate talented youths from humble backgrounds to exhibit their talents, we would have appreciated it. But this government is organising an elitist car race, reserved only for the rich and the corporates. The DMK government has no concern about the common man,” Jayakumar told media persons after distributing the party membership cards to the cadre in Perambur.

The tickets for the practice race were fixed between Rs 1,700 and Rs 17,000, which shows how elitist the sport is, the AIADMK leader said. “They have sold around 10,000 tickets for the practice race,” he claimed.

Despite tall claims, many have expressed disappointment as the event didn’t start on time and it has been delayed due to street dogs straying to the race track, he said. “The state government and Sports Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin should clarify who is going to benefit by selling the high-cost tickets. Ahead of the northeast monsoon, the government should repair roads and take pre-monsoon activities. But Chief Minister MK Stalin left for the USA without considering all these issues, while the entire government machinery is at present working on car racing,” Jayakumar said.

On Tamil Nadu’s government’s stand against the Union government’s blocking of funds under the PM Shri School Scheme, Jayakumar said the Chief Secretary of the State wrote a letter to the Centre in February that they were agreeing to the scheme. “Is this government unaware of such communication between the CS and the Centre? Why is it backtracking from its earlier decision,” he questioned.

He refused to comment on charges made by Diwakaran, brother of VK Sasikala, that the AIADMK MLAs elected from reserved constituencies were opposed to the move making V Dhanapal as Chief Minister immediately after the demise of J Jayalalithaa.

Responding to a question on the constitution of a six-member committee under H Raja to head the BJP’s TN unit in the absence of state president K Annamalai, Jayakumar said that they are least bothered about such a move. “The BJP is a corporate company. It appoints a board of directors to manage their TN unit during the absence of state manager,” he took a jibe at the move of the saffron party.