Political parties must now speak up against BJP: TNCC chief

CHENNAI: TNCC president Manickam Tagore on Thursday said political parties in Tamil Nadu, including the ruling TVK, had suddenly gone silent on the BJP and urged them to speak out against the saffron party. He also said the newly formed TVK-led alliance would discuss and draft a common minimum programme at its next meeting.

“Everyone has suddenly become silent without speaking about the BJP. Those who were speaking against the BJP earlier, including the ruling party in Tamil Nadu, must speak against it now. The Congress is in a position where we have to point this out,” Manickam Tagore told reporters at Sathyamurthy Bhavan.

Tagore said the Congress would continue to expose how the Narendra Modi government is allegedly discriminating against TN in the allocation of funds. Referring to the CAG report, he said it is not a report issued by any political party but one submitted through the constitutional audit process.

“People say TN is borrowing heavily, but the reason is the unjust distribution of funds by the centre,” he said, adding that BJP state president Nainar Nagenthran and former state president Tamilisai Soundararajan should take responsibility for the centre’s policies towards the state.

Alleging that “doing injustice is in the BJP’s DNA”, Tagore said the party is attempting to create an impression that it has done a lot for Tamil Nadu. “The BJP should be boycotted in TN politics. The lies being told by them are enormous,” he said.

On the alliance led by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s TVK, Tagore said the next steps would be discussed at the alliance’s forthcoming meeting.