Puducherry: Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said during an interaction with BJP workers in Tamilnadu that the BJP cherished its old friends, Union Minister Ramadas Athawale on Tuesday asked AIADMK in Tamilnadu to join hands with the NDA in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking to reporters, Athawale, who is national president of the Republican Party of India (A) – a constituent of the NDA, appealed that if AIADMK joins hands with the NDA it would benefit Tamilnadu and the party as well.
He also made an appeal to Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam founder T T V Dhinakaran on Tuesday and urged him to join the AIADMK. He said that Dhinakaran was his friend and that the two parties should come together to fulfil the dreams of former chief minister late Jayalalithaa and win the Lok Sabha elections.
Further, he appealed to Tamilnadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami to install a big statue Dr Ambedkar at Kanyakumari and added that he would write to him and hold talks in this connection during his visit to Chennai.
Athawale told reporters that he was happy that only 23 cases of atrocities against the Scheduled castes between 2013 and 2019 have been registered in Puducherry. Lauding the MUDRA scheme initiated in the Union Territory he said 36,000 people had been benefited with payment of Rs 500 crore through banks to facilitate self-employment projects.
Athawale’s appeal comes the same day when Senior AIADMK leader D Jayakumar said AIADMK was open for an alliance and that a decision regarding the same would be taken ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Recently, O Panneerselvam, Deputy Chief Minister, stated at the time of election anything can happen.