Slaves govern Tamil Nadu, dictators at Centre: Congress

CHENNAI: As officials from the CBI and Enforcement Directorate landed at former Union finance minister P Chidambaram’s residence in New Delhi on Tuesday, Congress leaders in Chennai hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP accusing them of threatening democracy in the country.
Speaking at a function organized by TNCC to commemorate former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s 75th birth anniversary, AICC general secretary in-charge of Tamil Nadu, Mukul Wasnik said, “Rajiv Gandhi wanted to strengthen democracy and he kept India united by not only sacrificing his life, but also Congress state governments in Punjab, Assam and Mizoram to end the unrest in those states, consequent to peace accords.But Modi is threatening democracy.”
Only Congress party is capable of fighting against BJP’s threat to democracy, as happened in Jammu and Kashmir, he said and added that the Congress–DMK alliance would grow from strength to strength in Tamil Nadu. “We cannot rest on the success of Lok Sabha polls. We need to work hard to emerge victorious in assembly polls too and make DMK president M K Stalin chief minister of Tamil Nadu,” Wasnik said.
TNCC president K S Alagiri attacked the Centre for targeting Chidambaram. “What wrong has Chidambaram committed? Mere accusations cannot become a crime,” Alagiri said, before going on to attack the ruling AIADMK in the state and the BJP government at the Centre. “While slaves are ruling this state, we have dictatorial government in Delhi,” Alagiri said, while urging Congress cadres to work for reviving the party, which had 20% vote share after 1989 assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.
Earlier, addressing the meeting, former TNCC president E V K S Elangovan attacked the BJP for using central agencies to threaten political leaders of other parties into submission. “While political parties increase their base by enrolling members through door-to-door campaign, the BJP is doing that using ED and other agencies,” Elangovan said.
Congress spokesperson Khushbu Sundar said the visit of CBI officials to Chidambaram’s house indicates BJP’s fear. “Chidambaram will legally face the case and related charges,” she said.