Puducherry election: Sonia calls Rangasamy an ‘opportunist’

PUDUCHERRY: After AIADMK general secretary and Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa termed All India NR Congress (AINRC) founder leader and Puducherry chief minister N Rangasamy a ‘traitor,’ All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Sonia Gandhi has called him an ‘opportunist’ who is willing to join hands with anyone to remain in power.
“In the last five years Puducherry is being ruled by the most opportunistic party (AINRC) -- a party, which is willing to join hands with anyone to remain in power.First it joined hands with AIADMK, a party which wants to destroy the identity of Puducherry. In 2014, it joined hands with BJP, a party, which is determined to destroy the unique identity of India,” she said while addressing a public meeting here on Thursday seeking votes for the candidates of Congress and its alliance partner DMK contesting the May 16 assembly election.
She charged that the Modi government did nothing to Puducherry in exchange to the support it received from AINRC and AIADMK in the last two years.
“But what has Modi government done in exchange for that support. It has cut MSP (minimum support price) for our farmers, which has been much improved by our UPA government. It has slashed central funds for essential social welfare and rural development projects that were launched by the previous Congress-led government affecting lakhs of people and children especially the poor,” she said.
She said the previous UPA government invested in railway and airport Infrastructure to improve connectivity to Puducherry and charged that the Modi government this year did not even mention Puducherry in the railway budget.
She said the people of Puducherry witnessed “carelessness and insensitivity” of AINRC and BJP governments when they were affected by floods. “Did the local government or central government come to your rescue? No, they did not come to your rescue. Our farmers particularly those who grow rice and sugarcane lost their entire crop. But they did not get any compensation. Rather they were let to their own fate,” she said.
She said the combination of BJP, AIADMK and AINRC has done a great deal of damage to Puducherry. “They (BJP, AIADMK and AINRC) may have differences but their identity is same. Their identity is anti-people and anti-Puducherry,” she said.
Sonia said some these parties openly advocated the merger of Puducherry (with Tamil Nadu), which Congress party will never allow. “Brothers and sisters it is now time to defeat these opportunistic parties. Puducherry’s identity, diversity and plurality can be preserved and protected only by the Congress-DMK alliance,” she said.
She said Puducherry, which used to be an industrial centre, now faces a very serious crisis of unemployment. “The government is not helping the youth to find jobs and the young people are forced to go to others states for employment,” she said.
Stating that Puducherry used to be a safe and peaceful state, she regretted that ‘today crime is on the rise and corruption too is rampant. People are being forced to leave Puducherry because of these problems.’
She said the Congress-DMK alliance will work to ensure a bright future for the people of Puducherry. “Our alliance government will work tirelessly for the welfare and well-being of all sections of people especially farmers, fishermen, women, children, minorities and youth,” she said.
She lambasted the Rangasamy government for not being ‘sensitive’ to women and said the government has been forcing women self-help groups to shut down. The government refused to hold local body polls and thus prevented Scheduled Caste women from participating in the local governance.
“Even the children have not been spared. I was shocked to hear that the bread and-milk scheme, which was launched by our government at schools, has now been stopped,” she said.
Stating that Puducherry reflects country’s diversity, she said no other party knows the people of Puducherry better than Congress. She said the party has been tirelessly working for the people of Puducherry and pointed out that every Congress Prime Minister accorded special attention to the Union territory.
The Congress chief said late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru took extraordinary measures to preserve the unique identity of the territory. “Today some leaders are talking building smart cities. But much before all this, Indira Gandhi (late Prime Minister) gave her support for township like Auroville,” she said.
Pointing out that late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi strived hard to bring about high quality education and health facilities in Puducherry she said former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ensured implementation of all the centrally-sponsored schemes in the Union territory.