For the first time since she launched her lok Sabha election campaign in March 2014, J Jayalalithaa, the AIADMK general secretary, lunched a broadside against Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP. Addressing election rallies at Krishnagiri, where Modi had spoken on Wednesday, Jayalalithaa unleashed a series of diatribe against him. Though, she has been severely attacking the BJP for the last one week for the party’s “indifference” to various issues haunting Tamil Nadu, she was silent about Modi.
What upset Jayalalithaa was Modi’s speech at Coimbatore and Krishnagiri where he equated the AIADMK with the DMK. Modi had said both the AIADMK and the DMK were birds of the same feather, interested only in power given by the ‘chair’ and not in generating power from the vast reserves of lignite in Tamil Nadu.
Jayalalithaa who does not see eye to eye with the DMK and its chief M Karunanidhi got annoyed because of this comparison. “Narendra Modi, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate and the Chief Minister of Gujarat has charged that the AIADMK was not interested in the welfare of the people and compared us to the DMK. Modi claims Gujarat is the role model for all States in the country in terms of economic and social development. But it is far from true. Gujarat is lagging behind in all spheres compared to Tamil Nadu. Mr Modi is marketing Gujarat through false claims,” charged Jayalalithaa. She listed her achievements like the Amma Restaurants which sell Rs1 iddli and Rs5 per meals, the Government shops which sell fruits and vegetables at subsidised rates and a host of other services for the benefit of poor people.
She also ridiculed Modi’s proposal to interlink the major rivers in the country to address the water scarcity in Tamil Nadu and other States. “Mr Modi’s claim that the Vajpayee Government had initiated steps to interlink the major rivers is not correct. Nothing has been done to launch the project,” said Jayalalithaa.
Her ire towards Modi was the fallout of the latter comparing her with her bête noire Karunanidhi. The next couple of days which mark the final phase of campaigning for the election from Tamil Nadu scheduled for April 24 promises more ‘fireworks’.
While Narendra Modi wound up his campaign in Tamil Nadu with a meeting at Nagercoil, senior leaders lK Advani, M Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi will tour the State from Friday.