Prime Minister Modi holds meeting with T.N. BJP leaders regarding election-related work

Prime Minister Modi meets Tamil Nadu BJP leaders to discuss election strategies and address the state’s financial crisis.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday held a meeting with senior leaders of the BJP in the State at a private hotel in Chennai regarding the upcoming Assembly election in Tamil Nadu.

According to party sources, Mr. Modi held the meeting with senior leaders, including Union Minister for Commerce and Industry and BJP’s election in-charge for Tamil Nadu Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L. Murugan, State president Nainar Nagenthran, and former State presidents Pon. Radhakrishnan, Tamilisai Soundararajan, and K. Annamalai.

The meeting lasted nearly 45 minutes, in which BJP’s national in charge and co-in charge for Tamil Nadu Arvind Menon and P. Sudhakar Reddy respectively, and the party’s women’s wing national president Vanathi Srinivasan, were also present, said party sources. The leaders apprised Mr. Modi regarding the ongoing election-related work in the State, party sources said.

Later, at Kamalalayam, the State headquarters of the BJP, Mr. Goyal released a ‘White Paper’ on the Tamil Nadu government’s financial crisis, prepared by the State BJP’s Professional Cell.

“Tamil Nadu’s treasury is empty. The outstanding debt is at its historic high at over ₹10 lakh crore. The Public Sector Undertakings under the State government have over ₹2 lakh crore of debt. The Chief Minister has no answers. He is trying to divert the attention of Tamil Nadu through fake narratives but not telling us where the money has gone. Tamil Nadu today runs like an ATM of [Mr.] Stalin’s family,” Mr. Goyal told journalists.

“Tamil Nadu is heading towards bankruptcy under the corrupt DMK government. The debt has almost doubled in the last five years. The DMK government has borrowed huge amounts of money. They are required to pay ₹76,000 crore only as interest in the current year. When they pay salaries and interest, there is nothing left for the development and future of Tamil Nadu,” Mr. Goyal added.