Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tamil Nadu election in-charge Piyush Goyal, alongside State President Nainar Nagenthran, on Tuesday, released a "chargesheet" in Chennai targeting the DMK government ahead of the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections.
Accompanied by leaders including K Annamalai and Tamilisai Soundararajan, Goyal described the upcoming Assembly election as a "turning point" in the state's history, expressing confidence that it will expose the unholy alliance of DMK with its partners.
While adressing the press conference, Piyush Goyal said, "This election will be a turning point in the history of Tamil Nadu. This election will once and for all expose the unholy UPA alliance of DMK, Congress and their partners as being one of the worst governments that Tamil Nadu has ever seen."
He also launched a strong attack on the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and its ally Indian National Congress, alleging widespread corruption, rising crime, and failure to deliver on electoral promises in Tamil Nadu.
Goyal described the upcoming Assembly election as a "turning point" in the state's history, expressing confidence that the electorate would reject the current government led by Chief Minister M. K. Stalin.
He alleged that the DMK-Congress alliance government had performed poorly and claimed that numerous allegations against both parties could not be ignored by the public. Goyal further accused the government of failing to ensure safety, stating that crimes against women, children, Dalits, Hindus, youth, and farmers had increased in the past five years.
Citing data, he claimed that cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) increased from 4,968 in 2022 to 6,969 in 2024. He also alleged involvement of DMK functionaries in sexual offences and criticised the government for inaction.
"When we saw the number of increase in sexual harassment cases against women in the last five years of the DMK government, we were shocked. We were shocked to see that POCSO cases have gone up from 4,968 barely two years ago in 2022 to 6,969 in 2024, the last figures which are available. DMK's own councillors and youth wing leaders have been accused of sexual assault. Yet, the DMK father-son duo have not taken any action against the culprits. Are they hand in glove with the culprits? Are they protecting the perpetrators of these crimes? Similarly, the amount of corruption in the 5-year rule of DMK in Tamil Nadu is a saga of loot that the people of Tamil Nadu will never forget," said Goyal.
On corruption, Goyal alleged a Rs 4,700 crore scam in illegal sand mining and claimed irregularities worth Rs 1 lakh crore linked to TASMAC operations. He further pointed to alleged corruption in highway tenders, municipal administration, and job transfers, stating that these had adversely affected livelihoods.
The Union Minister also claimed deterioration in law and order, alleging 8,900 murders and 32 custodial deaths during the tenure of the DMK-led government. He criticised what he termed "dynastic rule" under Stalin and his son Udhayanidhi Stalin, stating it had weakened governance.
Goyal further alleged that 70 per cent of the government's promises remained unfulfilled, highlighting issues such as lack of LPG subsidy, unchanged fuel prices, non-waiver of education loans, and over 3.57 lakh vacant government posts.
He said that if a new government is formed, action would be taken against alleged corruption and that pending cases related to corruption in the High Court would be pursued to ensure justice for the people of Tamil Nadu.
Tamil Nadu will go to the polls in a single phase on April 23, covering a total of 234 constituencies in the State. Counting is scheduled for May 4. Vijay, who is making an electoral debut with his party, will look to turn the polls into a three-way contest among the ruling DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance and the NDA.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
