At Puducherry rally, BJP chief Nadda promises development, employment to youth
Nadda is on a two-day visit to Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to take stock of the party's affairs and poll preparedness months before assembly elections are due in the southern state and UT.
A day after confirming his party’s alliance with All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in Tamil Nadu assembly elections slated for this year, BJP national president JP Nadda on Sunday visited the neighbouring poll-bound Puducherry and promised development in the Union territory.
“You'll witness development taking place and we would make Puducherry corruption-free. We will bring a sea change in Puducherry,” he said at the rally.
Nadda assured the people of the Union territory that best healthcare facilities will be provided to them under Ayushman Bharat and an IT park will give employment to the youth. “The Industrial Park will be given priority. We will conduct the local body elections after we form the government,” he said.
Hitting out chief minister Velu Narayanasamy, Nadda said when the former was Union minister, he waived off loans worth ₹5,000 crores for Jharkhand. “However, the current CM didn’t do the same for Puducherry. This is the kind of justice he did to the state,” he said.
He also reminded people of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s reign when Puducherry was given 70% grant-in-aid and slammed Congress party saying, “Till then, for 35 years of Congress rule, 52% of the population had been living below the poverty line.” Nadda alleged that the grant-in-aid was reduced to 30% when V Narayanaswamy, the incumbent CM, became a Union minister.
Nadda is on a two-day visit to Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to take stock of the party's affairs and poll preparedness months before assembly elections are due in the southern state and UT.
In Tamil Nadu, where Nadda formally announced on Saturday that the alliance with the ruling AIADMK will continue for the assembly elections slated for April-May, the BJP is hoping to cash in on the Centre’s social welfare and other centrally-sponsored schemes to earn an edge over the opposition in Tamil Nadu, where its presence is nascent.