Amit Shah, the union home minister, visited the state on Sunday and urged party members to seek more than 25 seats for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in what can be viewed as the BJP’s first significant outreach effort in Tamil Nadu ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He also had meetings with a variety of businessmen, athletes, and actors and actresses.
In order to commemorate the nine years that the Modi administration has been in office, Shah addressed a public event in the Vellore district where he pleaded with the populace to elect the Modi administration a third time.
“In 2024, with more than 300 seats, the Modi government will form the government. I have come to request you to vote for the NDA and give over 25 MPs as a mark of thanking Modi for the sengol that has been installed in the Parliament,” the home minister said.
Shah also held a private meeting with the party’s south Chennai executives on Sunday morning. He has requested that party members strengthen the booth-level committees in the state, according to BJP sources in the state.
“He has asked the party karyakartas (workers) to ensure that the BJP gets a two-digit victory in the state and that Modi sarkar comes back to Parliament. He has asked all the administrators and volunteers to work hard for the NDA alliance to win in all constituencies in the parliamentary elections,” a senior BJP executive who was part of the meeting said.
The sources claim that Shah also stated that Tamil Nadu should one day have a prime minister.
“Amit Shahji said two people from the state with the potential to be PM — Kamaraj and Moopanar — did not get an opportunity because of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK),” said another senior leader from BJP.
Famous Tamil Nadu-based Congressmen K. Kamaraj and G.K. Moopanar were formerly thought of as potential candidates for prime minister.
Reacting to reports of Shah hinting a Tamil PM in the future, state BJP chief K. Annamalai said: “…That was purely addressed to the workers of our party. The HM was very clear, he traced his own journey from 1982 as a booth president to our national president to home minister now. He also traced the life of our PM…He said, from booth president to prime minister — all of you will keep climbing up the rank. That is the beauty of this party. So, he mentioned the Tamil friends sitting in front of me…”
While Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, who is on a three-day visit to Salem, asked Shah on Saturday to name the programmes of the federal government for Tamil Nadu prior to Shah’s presence in the state.
Stalin said that numerous special programmes were introduced to Tamil Nadu during the Congress-led coalition administration at the Centre, accusing the Union government of failing to work for the benefit of the state and forcing Hindi and Sanskrit on Tamil people.
Lashing out at home minister, the CM said, “Does he have the ability to give a list; he should list out the schemes? He should get the courage and ability to say that this is what they have done for Tamil Nadu. Will he get (the courage) it? No.”
In the meantime, Shah pushed the CM to address Stalin’s queries during the Vellore meeting by saying, “Yesterday I heard Stalin ask why AIIMS has not come to Madurai. Why didn’t the DMK endeavour to bring AIIMS to Tamil Nadu during the 10 years that the UPA was in power?
Shah continued, “Under Modi’s rule, two batches of AIIMS have begun in temporary campuses in Tamil Nadu.”
The DMK and Congress, according to the Union minister, only care about dynasty politics and corruption. “We are talking not about the 2G scam (referring to telecom scandal), but about second-generation, third-generation and fourth-generation dynasty politics,” he said.
Two generations of the Maran family are involved in politics and corruption, making them a “2G” family. ‘3G’ describes the Karunanidhi family. Three generations have been involved in politics and corruption. In addition, Rahul is the fourth generation of the Gandhi family, according to Shah.
“Now it is time to remove 2G, 3G, 4G, and it is time to give an opportunity to the son of Tamil soil,” he asserted.
After a 25-minute power outage on Saturday while travelling the 9 kilometres from the airport to his hotel, Amit Shah’s visit was marred by controversy.
Vanathi Srinivasan, a BJP lawmaker, referred to it as a “planned and deliberate attempt” by the DMK administration and urged for a probe.
Shah visited a number of Tamil Nadu businesspeople, athletes, and film and television icons after arriving at the hotel.
The gathering was a part of the BJP’s nationwide festivities marking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s completion of nine years in office.
Industry mogul P.S. Rajan of India Cements, textile entrepreneur Nalli Kuppusami, and executive vice chair Preetha Reddy and her spouse Vijayakumar Reddy were among those who met Shah.
Shah met people from the film business, including R.K. Selvamani, A.R. Rajasekaran, Abirami Ramanathan, and music director G.V. Prakash Kumar, who has won national awards.
