'PM Modi brought Tamil Nadu to mainstream', argues JP Nadda; highlights Centre's measures

As Tamil Nadu preps up for its single-phase assembly election, Bharatiya Janata Party President Jagat Prakash Nadda in an attempt to bolster the chances of the saffron party on Saturday, gave the credit of bringing the state to the mainstream to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. From allotment of Rs 1.42 lakh crore in the 14th Finance Commission to the appointment of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who belong to the state. 

"Alliance for development or dynasty rule?"

Earlier on Saturday, Union Home Minister also addressed a rally in the state. In the rally, he drew a distinction between the Bharatiya Janata Party - All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam alliance and the Congress-Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and questioned the crowd if they wanted to go with an 'alliance that cares about the upliftment of the state or an alliance that only cares about the upliftment of their sons.' 

To back his question with reasons, he outlined that this is the 4th generation of Congress, from Nehru to Rahul Gandhi, and 3rd generation of DMK from Karunanidhi to Udhayanidhi and both have been only focussing on benefits of their families and dynasties. In contrast, he pointed out that PM Modi was leading the nation, coming from humble backgrounds, just like E Palaniswami, a son of a farmer, who went on to become the CM of Tamil Nadu with sheer hard work.

Political scenario in Tamil Nadu 

Taking a look back at the 2016 election, AIADMK came to power under the leadership of Jayalalitha for a successive term by winning a whopping 135 out of 234 seats in contrast to DMK 98 seats. Things were going smoothly until Jayalalitha passed away later that year, leaving her seat vacant, which needless to say, had many contenders. Firstly, it was filled by O Pannerselvam, but soon after Sasikala got elected as the General Secretary of the party and sought to take over as the CM of the State. 

Though in the beginning, Pannerselvam resigned and gave way to her candidature, after some time he began to rebel and things, as he may have thought, worked in his favour when Supreme Court convicted Sasikala in the disproportionate case, but unfortunately, E Palaniswami was picked as his replacement. Things between Pannerselvam and Palaniswami were sour, but on August 21, 2017, let go of their differences and united to pave way for the removal of Sasikala from the party. 

In the upcoming elections, the EPS-OPS-led AIADMK has joined hands with the BJP, PMK and other smaller parties to put up strong competition against MK Stalin-led DMK that is working in alliance with Congress, CPI, MDMK, VCK, IUML and MMK, and come back to power. The DMK that won 38 out of 39 seats in the Lok Sabha elections would, however not be easy to defeat. 

(Credits-ANI)