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 president
Sonia Gandhi has called him an `opportunist', willing to join hands with anyone to remain in power.
“In the last five years Puducherry is being ruled by the most opportunistic party -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 in Puducherry on Thursday seeking votes for the candidates of Congress and its alliance partner DMK contesting the May 16 election.
She also levelled charges against the Modi government.“What has it done in exchange for the support it received from AINRC and AIADMK in the last two years. It has cut mini mum support price for our farmers, which was 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, especially the poor,“ she said.
She said the previous UPA government invested in railway and airport infrastructure to improve connectivity to Puducherry and said the Modi government did not even mention Puducherry in this year's 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. Our farmers particularly those who grow rice and sugarcane lost their entire crop. But they did not get any compensation.Rather they were left to their fate,“ she said.
Stating that some of the parties openly advocated the merger of Puducherry (with Tamil Nadu), she said, “Puducherry's identity , diversity and plurality can be preserved and protected only by CongressDMK alliance.“