The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee has said that it will conduct massive protest marches across the state against the Karnataka government's proposed move to construct a dam across Cauvery river in Mekedatu in that state. TNCC president KS Alagiri in a statement said that the party wants the Karnataka government to reconcile on the construction of the Mekedatu dam and if it is continuing with the proposal, then the Congress in Tamil Nadu would conduct massive protests across the state.
The Congress leader also said that it was the Congress party, while in power in Delhi, which contributed immensely to the growth of Tamil Nadu. He said that during the Manmohan Singh government, there were a slew of projects for Tamil Nadu, challenging the state BJP to list out the number of projects that had come into the state during its eight-year rule in Delhi. He said that the BJP even scuttled the Rs 2000 crore Sethusamudram project that was sanctioned by the UPA government.
The senior Congress leader also said that it was during the UPA regime that the Tamil language was accorded the status of 'Senmozhi' or classical language. He also came down heavily on BJP state president, K Annamalai's statement that Tamil leaders including Ministers and MPs don't know English language. The TNCC president said that a person could be criticized if he does not know his mother tongue but there was nothing wrong if a person does not know another language.
He said that not knowing English was not something to be ashamed of and called upon Annamalai to speak well in English and to get the projects for Tamil Nadu released from the central government.
The TNCC president also lashed out at the BJP and said that under the Vande Bharat scheme not even a single train was allocated to Tamil Nadu.