CHENNAI: DMK president M K Stalin on Saturday launched a sharp attack on the C Joseph Vijay-led TVK govt, accusing it of failing on law and order, indulging in “horse-trading” and using “reels” and diversions to distract people from governance issues. He stated that TVK pushed Tamil Nadu 25 years behind by dropping the Parandur airport project and failing to control inflation.Addressing party functionaries and cadres at the DMK’s Mupperum Vizha at party headquarters here, Stalin said the party’s defeat in the assembly election was partly because it had failed to identify its real political opponent.“They are now building an image as if people were waiting for their arrival,” he said, alleging that the TVK govt had come to power with the support of DMK allies but was now indulging in horse-trading because it lacked confidence in its allies.Referring to the Madurantakam and Dharapuram bypolls, Stalin accused the TVK govt of “forcing” the elections on the people by engineering defections. He pointed out that former AIADMK MLAs Maragatham Kumaravel and P Sathyabama had resigned their MLA posts and joined the TVK within 20 days of the assembly election results.“Earlier, bypolls were held following the demise of a sitting MLA. But these two bypolls were forced on the people by killing democracy,” he said.Stalin asked DMK cadres to intensify door-to-door campaigning and “teach a lesson” to the ruling party. “We will return,” he said, adding that the bypolls would be used to expose the govt’s failures.Taking a swipe at Vijay’s foreign trip, Stalin said the CM had earlier announced that he had stopped acting in films but “is now acting before the people.”“The CM is on a shooting schedule, this time a foreign shooting,” he said, questioning the purpose of the London visit to attract investments without the industries minister and secretary accompanying him. “Why should an Indian company go to London to sign an MoU” he asked, referring to an MoU signed with Samvardhana Motherson International Limited, which is based in India.On law and order, Stalin called the TVK govt an “Uthavagarai govt” and said Tamil Nadu was turning into a “hunting ground” for criminals. In a Gen-Z-style dig, he said the govt appeared to be caught between “min vettU and aruva vettU” – power cuts and sickle attacks. He cited recent murders, including one during a Vinayagar Chaturthi procession, and sexual crimes involving the ruling party functionaries.Stalin hit back at Vijay’s remarks on MISA and the Sarkaria Commission made in the assembly. Accusing the CM of diverting attention from questions on governance, he said, “I don’t have to prove my arrest under MISA to anyone. You don’t have the credibility to question my life during MISA.”He referred to Chitti Babu’s writings and the Ismail Commission report, saying historical records could not be erased through “reels and misinformation campaigns”.Stalin said attempts to defame the DMK through “dirty politics” had continued for 75 years, but the forces behind them had changed now and then while the party remained “firm and strong.”
