Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said on Saturday that the BJP, which faced a debacle in the Karnataka Assembly elections, might advance the Lok Sabha polls scheduled next year.
Speaking to DMK functionaries in Salem, Stalin also asked Union Home Minister Amit Shah as to what the BJP has done for Tamil Nadu in the past nine years after it came to power at the Centre in 2014.
Stalin said that for the past two days, there were reports about Amit Shah visiting Tamil Nadu and addressing a public rally in Vellore.
“When DMK was part of the Central government during 2004-14, we introduced many schemes in the state, such as the Metro Rail project worth Rs 16,600 crore, highway projects worth Rs 56,664 crore and the Sethusamudram project. We also obtained 11 per cent of the total funds allocated for various schemes by the Government of India for Tamil Nadu,” Stalin said.
The Chief Minister also said that the only support given by the Central government to Tamil Nadu was the allocation of AIIMS in Madurai, but added that the Centre did not have the heart to allocate Rs 1,000 crore for the project.
Amit Shah is reaching Tamil Nadu on Saturday night and will attend a public programme at Vellore on Sunday. Shah will also meet BJP office-bearers of the South Chennai Lok Sabha constituency.
Stalin, meanwhile, called upon the DMK cadres to stay prepared for the Lok Sabha elections, saying that no political party will be able to defeat the DMK.
He also exhorted the party cadres to work hard to win all the seats in Tamil Nadu in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP is expecting to win 11 seats in Tamil Nadu as part of its political alliance with the AIADMK.
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