Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 8 : Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader TKS Elangovan on Wednesday raised a strong criticism against the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), calling the party a "blackmailer" over remarks of Madurai Metro development only after the BJP will gain power, questioning the kind of governance being performed by the party.
Speaking to ANI on the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's statement on the Madurai metro, he slammed the central government, saying that they had already rejected Metro projects in Coimbatore and Madurai despite both cities being major commercial and industrial hubs.
"How can you say that only if a BJP MP wins from Madurai, then the city will get metro rail? They had already rejected the project both in Coimbatore and Madurai, where we had sought a Metro project. Both are major cities next to Chennai. Coimbatore is a highly industrialised city, and Madurai is a highly commercial city. So, people will come to neighbouring districts also, so they should have approved Metro projects in both cities. What do they mean? Are they demanding that people should vote for them, then only they will do good to them? What kind of government are they (BJP) running? I know they are blackmailers," he said.
The remarks came after Fadnavis, while filing the nomination of BJP candidate Rama Sreenivasan from Madurai ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, claimed that the Metro project would reach Madurai city only if the BJP candidate won.
Elangovan said that Chief Minister MK Stalin and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar are holding election campaigns in all the constituencies ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections 2026, transparently conveying everything the general public should know.
"Our CM and Deputy CM are visiting all constituencies. They gather huge crowds everywhere and speak about what people should know. The campaign is going on very well," he said.
He further noted that the DMK government is not restricting anyone from learning Hindi; however, in the school curriculum, the mother tongue (Telugu) will be implemented along with English.
"We are not stopping anyone from learning Hindi or any other language. But no language should be forced to be learned. But in regular academics, we want only the mother tongue (Tamil) and the English language," he added.
Ahead of Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections, the three-language policy is once again emerging as a major issue. MK Stalin has said that as long as DMK remains in power, the three-language policy will not be implemented. Following this statement, political tensions around the issue appear to be rising.
Polling for the single-phase Tamil Nadu Assembly elections will be held on April 23, while counting of votes will take place on May 4.
The main contest is expected between the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), which includes the Indian National Congress, DMDK and VCK, and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by AIADMK with BJP and PMK as allies. Actor-turned-politician Vijay is also set to make his electoral debut with TVK, which could turn the contest into a three-way fight.