AIADMK-BJP pact: Stalin accuses EPS of surrendering party, says he would mortgage TN next

CHENNAI: Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin on Saturday ripped into the just-revived AIADMK-BJP alliance and said the 'corrupt' alliance was doomed to fail. Stalin also said AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, who pledged his party to Delhi out of fear of raids, was keen on pledging the entire state now.

In a strongly-worded statement issued a day after Union Home minister Amit Shah paraded the AIADMK's return to the NDA fold here, Stalin said, "The AIADMK-BJP alliance is an alliance doomed to fail. It was the people of Tamil Nadu who handed repeated defeats to this coalition. Now, Amit Shah has reconstituted the same failed alliance.

“AIADMK functionaries and their relatives were subjected to two raids by central investigating agencies. To escape the consequences, they ran to the BJP leadership. The alliance was confirmed based on this compromise. The people of Tamil Nadu are not naive — they know that corruption is the very basis of the AIADMK-BJP alliance. Those who pledged AIADMK out of fear of two raids are now eager to mortgage the entire Tamil Nadu," Stalin quipped.

Stalin accused the BJP leadership of hatching a calculated plan to eradicate Tamil through Hindi imposition and block Tamil people's progress through various conspiracies, and undermine Tamil Nadu's rights through constituency delimitation.

ADMK surrendered to BJP like bonded slave: Stalin

Stalin said, "The AIADMK, which has long surrendered like an old bonded slave camp, is being coerced by threats to implement these conspiracies. Whether the BJP comes alone or with partners, the people of Tamil Nadu are ready to deliver a fitting lesson. To the traitorous alliance that kneels in Delhi without self-respect and tries to pawn Tamil Nadu, the people will give the right response."

Reacting sharply to the corruption barbs fired by Shah, Stalin said the Tamil Nadu people would have laughed when the home minister spoke about corruption while confirming an alliance with AIADMK. Stalin also questioned if the BJP could credibly speak about corruption after forming an alliance with the party of Jayalalithaa who was sentenced to four-year imprisonment in the DA case and disqualified twice due to corruption charges.

Dubbing Shah's press conference as unworthy of the constitutional post he held, the CM said, "It may be his personal choice to confirm the alliance between AIADMK and BJP, but he failed to state on what ideological foundation it was formed. Instead, he merely assured that a "common minimum programme" (CMP) would be created."

Seeking to know if NEET, imposition of Hindi, three-language policy and the Wakf Act, claimed to be opposed by the AIADMK, besides delimitation would be a part of the CMP, Stalin said that Shah neither spoke about the issues nor he allowed EPS to speak. "Instead, he used the press conference solely to criticize the DMK, the DMK government, and me personally — something everyone who watched would have noticed, " he added.

Citing the lack of clarity in Shah's replies to media queries related to NEET, the CM said, "The Union home minister was unable to provide a proper response. If he believed NEET was right, he should have defended that position clearly. Instead, he tried to deflect by claiming that "opposing NEET is a diversionary tactic." Asking if the 20 plus Tamil Nadu students, who died by suicide over NEET, was also to be seen as a diversion, the CM sought to know what was Shah's answer to Bihar students dying by suicide over the issue. "Is the Home Minister aware that the CBI is currently investigating NEET exam malpractices in five states, with cases filed and some students and parents arrested? Under whose control is the CBI? Let him look into this and then answer whether opposition to NEET is a distraction or a genuine effort to protect medical education, " Stalin wondered.

Calling Shah's 'irresponsible' claims about Law and Order in Tamil Nadu 'condemnable', the CM said,

"This is not Manipur. This is Tamil Nadu. The BJP ruled over a state where more than 250 people were killed in the past 18 months. The Home Minister who failed to restore peace there now seeks to disturb peace in a peaceful state like Tamil Nadu. It is precisely because of the law and order maintained here that the state continues to progress in all aspects — a fact confirmed even by Union Government statistics. Yet, the Home Minister irresponsibly tried to incite fear by claiming a breakdown of law and order."