Madurai: Chief minister M K Stalin said BJP was banking on ‘sinking ship AIADMK‘, while the latter was dependent on ‘dubba engine BJP’ to face the assembly election. “Neither of them would succeed,” Stalin said at a govt welfare distribution event in Kanyakumari on Wednesday. “Zero plus zero would only be zero,” he said. “They will get only poojyam (zero) not rajyam (power),” he said. Referring to AIADMK general secretary’s promise of giving 10,000 to all families if they came to power, Stalin said the promise was “similar to the false promise of depositing 15lakh in bank accounts of all Indians.” “But people of Tamil Nadu are not ready to believe such lies,” he said. Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Stalin said the BJP leader would start frequenting Tamil Nadu whenever there was an election, but the visits would not yield result. “In fact, BJP’s allies are scared. Because, more the number of visits, greater their chance of defeat,” he said. Stalin pointed out that despite the upcoming elections, Union govt chose to ignore Tamil Nadu in the Union budget. “That is why I often say, this election is Tamil Nadu vs NDA. Tamil Nadu should be governed from Fort St George and not from Delhi,” he said. He also accused of BJP attempting to instigate communal unrest in a state that is peaceful. “Like some other parts of the country, they are trying hard to create unrest in Tamil Nadu too,” he charged. “I openly ask BJP when will you stop violence and start speaking about development. When will you stop your efforts to create conflict and think about doing good for Tamil Nadu,” he asked. He also alleged that Union govt has not taken any steps to prevent the arrest of Tamil fishermen by Lankan forces. Stalin made six new announcements. He said that educational assistance and marriage assistance for fishermen and their families would be enhanced. He said that in the event of fishermen going missing at sea, the families would be provided financial assistance of 2,000 s month.
