Rahul Gandhi taunts Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: Needling Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in her home turf, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday asked people to vote out the AIADMK government led by Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, who preferred to “stay within four walls” instead of being on the streets of Chennai during last year’s unprecedented floods.

Addressing election rallies in Madurai, Coimbatore and Maduravoyal near here, the young Nehru-Gandhi scion targeted Ms Jayalalithaa and Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying there are two leaders in this country who believe they have all the answers to everyone’s problems.

“One is sitting in Delhi, he is the Prime Minister of the country and the other one is Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,” Mr Gandhi said, charging the Jayalalithaa Government with failure on all fronts which has led to unemployment and industries shifting out of the state.

“Tamil Nadu does not need a government which is run by a person who stays within four walls and does not even have the decency to come out and see what happened when floods hit Chennai…I could come from Delhi to see what happened in Tamil Nadu and to help, to give a hand to the poor people but the Chief Minister could not walk out of her house,” Mr Gandhi said, addressing the public meetings.

In Madurai, Mr Gandhi shared the stage with DMK Treasurer M.K. Stalin in Madurai and Rajya Sabha MP Ms Kanimozhi in Coimbatore. “Tamil Nadu had leaders like Kamaraj, MGR and Karunanidhi, who were humble, reached out and listened to everyone. In contrast, we have a Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who is absolutely convinced that she doesn't need to meet anybody in Tamil Nadu. This leader does not reach out to people and does not believe that poor people have wisdom,” he said.

Complementing each other while addressing the rally in Madurai, Mr Gandhi and Mr Stalin said they share the vision to make Tamil Nadu the best performing state in the country.

Noting that the number of Tasmac shops in Tamil Nadu has increased from 1,800 to 6,800 over the last five years, he said the DMK Government would ensure that prohibition is implemented in the state if it came to power.

“In the last elections, Ms Jayalalithaa said she would give Rs 5,000 per family for mixer grinder and other household items. What she didn't tell you is that her liquor policy would take Rs 65,000 from every single family in Tamil Nadu...vote for Congress-DMK and we will reduce the number of shops to zero,” he said.

Mr Gandhi alleged that though the erstwhile Congress Government wanted to implement the Sethusamudram project which would have had brought industrial development in the state, Ms Jayalalithaa has stalled it.

91 held for demo against Rahul’s visit: The members of Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhakam (TPDK) were arrested here today when they staged a black flag demonstration against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over Sri Lankan Tamils' issue, hours before his visit to the city for addressing an election rally.

A total of 91 TPDK workers, including 15 women, assembled near the city bus stand and protested against the “failure” of the previous Congress-led UPA government to safeguard the Sri Lankan Tamils during the war against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009, police said.