Congress will support Rangasamy on Statehood issue, says Narayanasamy
The Hindu
If the CM is really interested in fighting the Centre on the issue, he should take to the streets, he says
Former Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy on Wednesday said if Chief Minister N. Rangasamy was willing to hit the streets demanding Statehood, the Congress party would support him.
“If he is really interested in fighting the Centre on the Statehood issue, he should take to the streets. Already our Member of Parliament V. Vaithilingam has offered to support Mr. Rangasamy on the issue,” he said, addressing a press conference here.
The Chief Minister had been making statements explaining the difficulties his government was facing in getting files cleared due the administrative apparatus of the Union Territory. Instead of making such statements, the Chief Minister should take the initiative to convene an all-party meeting and lead a delegation to meet the Prime Minister on the issue, he said.
On the criticism against Congress party for not according Statehood while it was in power at Centre, the former Chief Minister said the situation had changed after 2014.
“We were not in favour of Statehood as there was a threat of losing Mahe and Yanam regions. Even Mr. Rangasamy, when he was in Congress, did not ask for Statehood. We were then for special category status. The situation has changed after the BJP came to power at Centre with Central assistance coming down to 30 per cent. That is the reason why we passed a resolution in the Assembly when I was heading the government. We also took an all-party delegation to meet the Prime Minister on Statehood issue,” the Congress leader said.
Hitting out at Minister for Public Works K. Lakshminarayanan for his criticism, the former Chief Minister said “the Minister was privy to all the decisions the previous government took in its fight for Statehood as he was the Parliamentary Secretary to the Chief Minister then. He was the one who filed the case in the Madras High Court to protect the rights of elected government. If he speaks more, I will politically expose him.”
The former Chief Minister said all those who had left the Congress before Assembly polls were now talking in a different way to please someone else.
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