BJP to launch year-long padayatra in against DMK govt: Annamalai

CHENNAI: BJP state president K Annamalai on Tuesday announced that he would undertake a year-long padayatra from January 1 next year from Kanniyakumari to Chennai if the DMK government fails to fulfil all its poll promises.

“We will launch the padayatra from Vivekananda rock in Kanniyakumari on January 1 and it will pass through 77,000 polling booths and cover all the villages in the State. It will end at Gopalapuram marking the end of the DMK’s dynastic politics,” he said while addressing his supporters at the hunger strike here to condemn the DMK government’s failure to fulfil its poll promises.

He called upon the party workers to prepare themselves for the padayatra to bring about a political change in the State. Pointing out that the BJP was holding its third hunger strike in the last year of the DMK government, he said that it was to prepare the cadres to go to the public to seek their support to get 25 MPs from the State in 2024 polls.

Hitting out at the DMK government for failing to fulfil its electoral promises, the BJP leader said that after 13 months in power, the ruling party could no longer give any excuses for not implementing the promises. “DMK government has tabled two budgets after coming to power. People will not accept any excuses, ” he said, adding that the state government has increased the property tax by 150 to 200 per cent after promising that they would not revise the tax considering the covid impact. He listed out various unfulfilled promises including a reduction in fuel prices and an LPG subsidy of Rs 100 per cylinder.

‘Tamil Nadu Eknath Shinde will emerge soon’

Annamalai warned the ruling DMK that soon Tamil Nadu’s Eknath Shinde would emerge. “There is a lot of parallel between Shiv Sena and DMK. The dynastic politics led to the fall of Uddav Thackeray’s Maha Vikas Aghadi government. DMK cabinet is likely to be reshuffled to appoint the Chief Minister’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin as a minister. Tamil Nadu’s Eknath Shinde is waiting to rise, ” he alleged.