Thaindian News

Tiruchirappalli (Tamil Nadhu), Aug 14 (IANS) AIADMK General Secretary J. Jayalalithaa Saturday came down heavily on the central and Tamil Nadu governments over price rise, power cuts and the law and order problem and urged people to vote intelligently in the assembly polls next year.
Addressing a rally here, around 300 km from state capital Chennai, she condemned the policies of central and state governments and said: “It is more than four years since the DMK came to power. We are in an election year. In nine months the state will go to polls. In a democracy vote is a powerful weapon.”

“You can change the fate of the nation, state and even yours with the vote. Voting intelligently can bring a good government to Tamil Nadu. Do not sell your vote for Rs.1,000,” she told thousands of supporters at the Railway grounds here.

In a speech that extended over an hour, she criticised the central and the state government’s failure in controlling the rising prices of essential commodities.

The central government’s decision to hike diesel prices and the state government’s decision to increase the power tariff severely affected the common man, she said.

She faulted the DMK government’s handling of the Cauvery river water dispute with Karnataka over the years for the dwindling area under cultivation in the Cauvery delta region.

Only after the AIADMK party announced its agitation in Trichy, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi wrote a letter to his Karnataka counterpart to release Cauvery water, Jayalalithaa said.

According to Jayalalithaa, in 2006 when the AIADMK was voted out of power, the state had surplus power and its power plants won national awards for efficiency.

But now, the state buys power from other states and many of its power plants are performing badly due to poor quality of imported coal.