Modi Thinks Congress is the Ruling Party: CM

Chennai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks as though the Congress party was ruling the country and he was an opposition leader, Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin said on Wednesday.

Addressing the media at the airport on his return from a 10-day visit to Spain, Stalin, when asked about his opinion on the Prime Minister’s speech in Parliament, said that he read, enjoyed and had a laugh at it.

Right from the beginning of his rule, Modi had been targeting the Congress as though it was the ruling party, which was intriguing, he said.

On his visit to Spain, Stalin said investment commitments to the tune of Rs 3,440 crore had been given by several companies, which revealed the faith that multinational companies had in Tamil Nadu and the DMK government and expressed the confidence that more firms would invest in the State in future.

He also referred to the New York Times carrying an article praising the industrial development in Tamil Nadu, which has been mentioned as the leading State in the country that was now considered an alternative to China in industrial production.

Asked about his next foreign trip to attract foreign investments, he said it would be scheduled only after the Lok Sabha elections and assured the media persons that they would be informed of it when it was planned.

When a media person referred to Modi's comment on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) crossing the 400-seat mark in the coming elections, Stalin replied in a jocular vein that the Prime Minister could have predicted a clean sweep of all the 543 Lok Sabha seats.

To a question on actor Vijay’s announcement on launching a new party, the Chief Minister said he was happy about people coming forward to serve the people.

On his arrival by an Emirates flight in the morning, the Chief Minister was given a rousing welcome by State Ministers, DMK MPs, MLAs, senior government officials and many ruling party functionaries at the airport. As he drove out of the airport, people lined up on both sides of the road to cheer him.

He had taken an Emirates flight to Dubai, en route to Spain, on January 27 from Chennai to hold discussions with potential investors and explain to them the merits of making investments in the State that had the best infrastructure, facilities, friendly political climate and rich human resources.