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BJP Tamil Nadu president Nainar Nagendran on Wednesday questioned the state government's expenditure on Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay's visit to Mettur, asking why Rs 5 crore was allegedly spent on the visit when the dam itself was constructed at a cost of only Rs 4.80 crore.
"The dam cost Rs 4.80 crore. Why spend Rs 5 crore on a visit?" Nagendran asked while criticising the Tamil Nadu government over the arrangements made for Vijay's recent visit to Mettur for the opening of the dam gates. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a BJP Seva Sankalp campaign and state-level workshop in Trichy, Nagendran alleged that around Rs 5 crore was spent on the Chief Minister's visit, including the construction of barricades along both sides of the route. He questioned the need for what he described as extravagant expenditure, particularly when farmers in the Cauvery delta were facing difficulties due to delayed water release. Nagendran also criticised the delay in opening the Mettur Dam, which is traditionally opened on June 12 for the Kuruvai cultivation season. He said the dam was opened late because of inadequate water availability. According to the BJP leader, the dam has a total capacity of 95 TMC, while only around 54 TMC of water was available at the time of opening. He added that it could take nearly 12 days for the released water to reach the tail-end areas of the Cauvery delta. He further accused the Vijay government of failing to effectively negotiate with Karnataka over the release of Tamil Nadu's due share of Cauvery water. Nagendran questioned why the Chief Minister had not exerted greater pressure on Karnataka, despite the state government having ministers from the Congress alliance. He also alleged that Karnataka had failed to release the quantity of water determined by the Cauvery Water Management Authority and said the Tamil Nadu government should have strongly condemned it. The BJP state president claimed that nearly two lakh hectares of agricultural land in the delta districts had remained uncultivated and demanded compensation for affected farmers. He also alleged that farmers were protesting in Chennai over the TVK government's failure to fulfil its election promises. On the language issue, Nagendran said there was nothing wrong with providing training to people who do not know Tamil to communicate in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. However, he questioned an alleged statement by a minister that Christianity was more important than Tamil. "If that is the case, what is the position of Hindus in Tamil Nadu?" he asked. Nagendran also targeted the ruling alliance over differences regarding future political leadership. "There is no unity even among the parties in the alliance. One minister has even said that he would resign from his post. This government will soon face a downfall," he said. (ANI)
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