Modi continues with spree of infraprojects in poll-bound Puducherry, Tamil Nadu

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 25

With infrastructure development as the centerpiece of his politics in the upcoming Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued with the spree of inaugurations and announcements of infrastructure projects in poll-bound Puducherry and Tamil Nadu.

Addressing public meetings in Puducherry and Coimbatore, he also accused the Congress of “lying” and slammed the DMK for the way it treated “Amma” Jayalalithaa.

“The entire Tamil Nadu knows how the DMK treated ‘Amma’ Jayalalithaa. Those who troubled Jayalalithaa were rewarded (by the Congress),” he said.

He also took a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for questioning the Centre for not having an exclusive ministry for fishermen.

“Congress leaders would win gold, silver and bronze medals for telling lies,” he said in Puducherry.

“Our colonial rulers had the policy of divide and rule. Congress has a policy of divide, lie, and rule. Sometimes, their leaders put region against region and community against community,” he said in an apparent reference to Gandhi’s recent ‘north-south’ remarks.

In Coimbatore, he talked of a “paradigm shift” in the agriculture sector through the three farm laws brought by his government. The Prime Minister said the three farm laws gave farmers “freedom” and “independence from middlemen”, and also talked of increase in the MSP, including copra, during the NDA’ regime.

He called the meetings of the DMK and the Congress “corruption hackathons”. 

“The NDA’s approach is governance with compassion,” he said, assuring voters of the poll-bound Tamil Nadu — which his party is contesting with the AIADMK.

“The aim of the NDA is the welfare of Tamil Nadu, the welfare of Tamil people,” he said, making infrastructure development and welfare schemes the core of his reach-out to voters there.

While politically, the Prime Minister is tackling the Opposition in his characteristic manner, in these elections, he is also sending another message through these infrastructure projects — whether it is Kerala, Tamil Nadu or Puducherry in the South, or Assam and West Bengal in the East.

The slew of projects that he inaugurated or announced on Thursday included four-laning of NH 45-A, a blood centre at Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), a minor port under Sagarmala Scheme, a synthetic athletic track at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex and a 100-bed girls’ hostel at Lawspet for female athletes at Puducherry.

Inaugurating the re-built Mairie Building, the Prime Minister said the building would add to the beauty of Beach Promenade and attract more tourists.

In Tamil Nadu, he dedicated to the nation the 1000-MW Neyveli New Thermal Power Project and the 709-MW Solar Power Project of NLCIL; laid the foundation stone of a 5-MW grid-connected ground-based solar power plant; the Integrated Command and Control Centers (ICCC) in nine Smart Cities — Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem, Thanjavur, Vellore, Tiruchirappalli, Tiruppur, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi; and eight-laning of Korampallam Bridge and Rail Over Bridge (ROB) at VO Chidambaranar Port.