Modi angry with Stalin, DMK for having helped build I.N.D.I.A bloc: DMK treasurer T.R. Baalu

Chennai DMK Treasurer Baalu counters PM Modi's remarks, highlighting lack of progress on AIIMS Madurai and flood relief funds.

DMK Treasurer T.R. Baalu on Wednesday, February 28, 2024, countered Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks about the party and the DMK government.

The Prime Minister, speaking at a public meeting in Tirunelveli on Wednesday, had said the Centre could not implement many of its ambitious projects in the State, including the AIIMS in Madurai, because of the non-cooperation of the DMK government.

Mr. Baalu said that the Prime Minister’s anger against the DMK and its chief M.K. Stalin was understandable, as it was a fact that it was Mr. Stalin who had laid the foundation to bring together the parties under the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.). “That is why Mr. Modi is angry,” Mr. Baalu said in a statement. He also charged the BJP government with destroying industrial growth in Tiruppur (where Mr. Modi spoke).

Countering Mr. Modi’s remarks that the Congress-DMK alliance, when in power at the Centre, had not made efforts to bring development to Tamil Nadu, he listed a slew of development projects, including the National Institute of Siddha in Tambaram and the National Institute of Ocean Technology, among others.

The AIIMS Madurai project was announced in 2015, but there has been no progress since, Mr. Baalu pointed out. The Centre has not allocated funds towards flood relief despite repeated requests from the State. In such a scenario, he asked how Mr. Modi could even visit Madurai, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi, districts that were badly affected in the torrential rains in December 2023.

Mr. Modi, he said, was unable to tolerate the progress of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, and hence, he was criticising its parties and leaders. Since the DMK had exposed the Centre over it not releasing GST and flood relief funds, the Prime Minister was spreading false information about the DMK government not cooperating with the Centre, he alleged. “Those who have said the DMK would no longer exist have vanished,” Mr. Baalu said.