Ramanathapuram (Tamil Nadu): Tearing into the DMK-Congress combine, BJP president Amit Shah on Friday reminded the country about the 2G spectrum and other scams during the previous UPA regime and sought to know how such an alliance can give good governance.
He dared DMK's M K Stalin and Congress' Rahul Gandhi to give an account of the contribution for Tamil Nadu's development during the previous UPA regime and said they only have "accounts for corruption".
Shah was addressing BJP workers here two days after the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Congress finalised their seat-sharing exercise for the coming Lok Sabha elections under which the Rahul Gandhi-led party has been allocated 10 of the 40 seats, including the lone Puducherry.
Referring to the recent Pulwama terror attack that left 40 CRPF personnel dead in Jammu and Kashmir, he said the blood shed by the soldiers will not go in vain.
He said the NDA government had a "zero tolerance towards terrorism."
On the focus of development by the Narendra Modi government towards the southern state, Shah said he had allocated five times more funding for a string of infrastructure projects in the state.
"I am challenging Rahul-Stalin duo to state what all was done during their tenure. Should they be accountable or not? They cannot give give account... the Congress-DMK combine has accounts for corruption and not development," he said.
Referring to the scams such as alleged irregularities in the allocation of 2G spectrum and coal blocks and the AugustaWestland chopper deal, Shah asked if such an alliance would be able to deliver governance.
"All of you tell me, can the DMK-Congress duo who indulged in corruption upto the tune of Rs 12 lakh crore do good to the country? Can they good to TN?.. DMK-Congress means corruption. BJP means development," he said.
Shah, whose party has signed a poll pact with the ruling AIADMK, said the BJP and its allies will work to ensure that Tamil Nadu was elevated to the top slot in the country through development initiatives if the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was voted back to power.
"I want to ask M K Stalin. What has the UPA done to people of Tamil Nadu? When the UPA was in power, under the 13th Finance Commission (only) Rs 94,540 crore was given to Tamil Nadu," he said.
Hailing Modi as a 'credible' leader sans corruption charges, he said the BJP-led government allotted over Rs 5,42,000 crore to the state which is "five times (more than) the money given by UPA."
Regarding the proposed grand alliance of opposition parties, including the Congress, he said, "They do not have a leader. I want to ask them, if you form a government, who will be the prime minister?"
Shah said, "Shall I tell you who will be the PM? It will be Mayawati on Monday, Akhilesh on Tuesday, Wednesday - Chandrababu, Thursday - Devegowda, Friday - Mamata didi, Saturday - Stalin, Sunday is an off for the country."
Shah wondered if a country can be run by such an "incohesive coalition" of parties. "They don't have a leader with them, we have a Prime Minister, the NDA will win and Narendra Modi will become the PM again," he said.
The BJP chief said he was confident that more than 35 MPs representing the NDA from Tamil Nadu would be in the next Lok Sabha, adding another chance to the saffron party meant one more opportunity to propel the nation towards "world class standards."
He listed out the allocations for projects, including the Chennai Metro rail and Sagarmala infrastructure schemes.
The BJP chief also mentioned the budget proposal to set up a separate department for fisheries, a key demand of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
"It has also been decided to set up a welfare board to secure lives of nomadic tribes," he added.
Shah said income tax exemption upto Rs 5 lakh for the middle class, exemption for small-time traders from GST registration and the 'Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan' pension plan among the initiatives for the benefit of the common people.
On his arrival at Madurai, AIADMK coordinator and deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam alongwith senior party colleagues met Shah. Though described as a courtesy visit, the leaders discussed the poll scenario and initiatives aimed at fine tuning the election campaign, party sources said.
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