Chennai, Feb 22: BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan on Sunday mounted a sharp attack on the Tamil Nadu government, accusing Chief Minister M. K. Stalin of fabricating an “artificial” narrative of rights deprivation to divert attention from what she termed administrative failures and corruption.
Addressing reporters at Namakkal after holding consultations with stakeholders for inputs to the BJP’s Assembly election manifesto, Soundararajan alleged that the Chief Minister was attempting to create a perception that Tamil Nadu was being economically sidelined by the Union government.
“The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister speaks of an artificial economic slowdown and an artificial economic plan imposed by the Centre. What he is actually creating is an artificial sense of deprivation of rights,” she said.
“In Tamil Nadu, it is not as though people’s rights are being snatched away. The CM is building a mirage as if the state’s rights are under threat,” she said.
The former Governor asserted that the BJP would counter what she described as “misinformation” through its manifesto and campaign outreach.
She reiterated the party’s pitch for a “double engine government,” arguing that having the same party in power both at the Centre and in the State would accelerate development and ensure smoother implementation of welfare schemes.
“We are in power at the Centre and we are going to form the government in the State. Our manifesto will provide practical solutions to the people’s concerns,” she said, expressing confidence about the party’s prospects in the upcoming Assembly elections.
Soundararajan also criticised Stalin for maintaining what she called a confrontational approach towards the Union government.
She maintained that the Centre’s financial policies are uniform across all States and dismissed allegations that Tamil Nadu was being treated unfairly.
“There is no separate financial policy for Tamil Nadu and another for Uttar Pradesh. The finance policy is the same for all States. We will no longer accept the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister portraying the State as neglected or deceived,” she said. Her remarks come amid escalating political rhetoric between the BJP and the DMK over fiscal federalism, governance, and the State’s development trajectory ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls.
–IANS
