Chennai, Oct 7:
BJP Tamil Nadu president Nainar Nagenthran has criticised Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay over the delay in regularising temporary nurses, alleging that the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam government has failed to honour its election promise to provide permanent employment to them from the first day of assuming office.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Nagenthran questioned the government’s priorities and asked why it was seeking more time to appoint and regularise nurses while moving quickly on other government decisions, including providing cars to MLAs.
The BJP leader recalled the TVK’s election promise concerning temporary nurses and alleged that the government had assured that their services would be regularised from the first day of the new administration.
He questioned why the government had not yet implemented the assurance and criticised what he described as a delay in addressing the concerns of nurses who have been seeking permanent employment.
Nagenthran also alleged that thousands of nurses who staged a peaceful protest demanding permanent jobs faced police action. According to him, the protesting nurses were made to wait for several hours before being taken for talks and were subsequently confined at a marriage hall.
He questioned how nurses could have confidence in a government that, according to him, made assurances during the election but was now seeking additional time to address their demands.
The BJP state president specifically referred to the government’s request for time until November 3 in connection with the issue and alleged that this amounted to postponing a decision on the regularisation of the nurses.
He also criticised the Chief Minister’s priorities, contrasting the government’s reported moves on providing vehicles to MLAs and constructing a new Secretariat with the delay in taking a decision on regularising government employees.
“If the government can move quickly on providing cars to MLAs, why does it need more time when it comes to appointing nurses?” Nagenthran asked.
He further questioned why the government was proceeding with what he described as speed on providing cars to legislators and construction of a new Secretariat while moving slowly on the issue of regularisation of government employees.
The BJP leader’s criticism comes amid growing political attention to the demands of temporary nurses and the government’s response to their employment-related concerns.
Nagenthran sought to make the issue one of political accountability by directly linking the present delay with the TVK’s election promise. He argued that the government should explain the reasons for seeking additional time and spell out when a final decision would be taken.
The criticism also comes at a politically sensitive time for the TVK government, which is facing its first by-elections after assuming office. Opposition parties have been using issues concerning government employees and implementation of election promises to question the administration’s performance.