TN: BJP flays CM for political speech, says GST Council example of cooperative federalism

PTI, May 27, 2022, 7:20 PM IST

Image credit: ANI / File

Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai on Friday slammed Chief Minister M K Stalin for delivering an allegedly political speech during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the city for launching developmental projects and claimed that the goods and services tax (GST) council is a ”shining example of cooperative federalism.”

The Prime Minister did not visit Chennai for a BJP programme but to launch projects and lay foundation stones for over Rs 31,000 crore, he said.

”The official function was about the developmental initiatives for Tamil Nadu. Our Chief Minister was expected to show grace, but he ended up disgracing himself by talking about Dravidian model, social justice and cooperative federalism,” Annamalai claimed.

Insisting that the Prime Minister was an epitome for safeguarding social justice, the BJP leader told reporters here that Union Minister L Murugan, who attended Thursday’s function here, represented the Arunthathiyar community (Scheduled Caste).

Also, the Prime Minister spoke of Tamil pride when he had said that Murugan walked the red carpet in Cannes in France by donning traditional Tamil attire, he said. ”Modiji had said that the son of this great soil of Tamil Nadu Thiru L Murugan walked the Red Carpet in traditional Tamil attire. It made Tamils all over the world very proud,” Annamalai recalled.

”As an ordinary citizen of India and a proud Tamil, I am absolutely ashamed by the appalling conduct of TN CM @mkstalin. Hon PM @narendramodi had come as the PM, not for a BJP programme,” Annamalai said in his tweet.

On Stalin’s demand to retrieve the Katchatheevu island ceded to Sri Lanka, Annamalai said the Chief Minister appeared to have forgotten that the island was ”gifted to Sri Lanka by none other than former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1974.”

”Since 1974, the DMK and Congress have formed alliances, looted the people together. Why this sudden awakening?” he asked in a tweet.

”CM @mkstalin keeps speaking of federalism, but insults the GST Council, a shining example of federalism. The dues are paid as per a formula jointly worked out. CM @mkstalin thinks that only his whims should matter. Typical dynastic entitlement that doesn’t understand consensus,” Annamalai said in another tweet.