Jayalalithaa had proved herself to be an “irresponsible Chief Minister” by not meeting people or taking initiatives to solve their problems in the last five years, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president E. V. K. S. Elangovan charged on Saturday.
Campaigning at K. Pudur in Madurai North constituency for party candidate V. Karthikeyan, the TNCC president accused Ms. Jayalalithaa of not meeting the people even when calamities struck several parts of the State. On the other hand, nonagenarian M. Karunanidhi visited the affected areas and Rahul Gandhi came from New Delhi to provide relief. But the Chief Minister visited only her constituency R. K. Nagar for a brief while. She did not even show the concern she had for elephants, he said.
Referring to Ms. Jayalalithaa’s promise of phased implementation of prohibition, Mr. Elangovan wanted to know why she did not heed pleas for total prohibition in the last five years. While the late Kamaraj opened many schools across the State, Ms. Jayalalithaa was responsible for opening more liquor shops, he said. It was time for Tamil Nadu, which had been progressing backwards during the AIADMK regime, to move forward.
Earlier, addressing a group of Tamil Maanila Congress functionaries from different districts who had re-joined the Congress, Mr. Elangovan said that the Assembly election had come as an opportunity to regain lost pride of the party.
