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Senior BJP leader H. Raja paid floral tributes to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the party headquarters in Chennai on the occasion of Vajpayee's 101st birth anniversary on Thursday.
State vice president V.P. Duraisamy and state secretary Amar Prasad Reddy also participated in the event. Speaking to the media afterwards, Raja urged the DMK government, which was part of the NDA during Vajpayee's tenure, to honour the former Prime Minister by naming at least one of the new parks being built in Tamil Nadu after him: "The DMK, which participated in the NDA government during Vajpayee's tenure, should honour him by naming at least one of the new parks being built in Tamil Nadu after the former Prime Minister," Raja said. He accused the DMK government of corruption, alleging irregularities in welfare and employment schemes: "The first corruption after DMK came to power was in sanitation work. In the 100-day employment scheme, records show more workers than actually exist. The Centre allocated 300 crore for paddy storage godowns - where did that money go? Funds meant for housing for scheduled communities were also misused," the BJP leader said. He praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, noting that, unlike other governments, PM Modi had introduced programs to improve women's lives. Extending Christmas greetings, Raja also responded to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's criticism of the Special Summary Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He said the Election Commission was conducting the process transparently: "Over 24 lakh deceased voters have been identified and removed. About 80% of voters have shifted locations and must re-register before January. BLOs are appointed by the state government. Collectors and tehsildars are handling the work. SIR is an open book - no central agencies are being misused," he said. On alliance talks, Raja said Union Minister Piyush Goyal had been in discussions with parties and that decisions would be announced soon. Addressing questions on Tamil Nadu's finances, Raja claimed the state's debt had nearly doubled. "Until 2021, Tamil Nadu's debt was 4.3 lakh crore. Now it is 9.3 lakh crore. This DMK government has taken massive loans in just five years. They keep saying Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have not progressed - but Tamil Nadu has a per-capita income of 56,000 crore and still the debt keeps rising. Bihar, meanwhile, has lower state debt," he said. Raja reiterated his request that the state government recognise Vajpayee's contributions by naming public infrastructure after him. (ANI)
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