Union Minister Prakash Javadekar Wednesday supported his cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal’s remarks that he could not reach out to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa or the state ministers during the last 22 months of his tenure.
“What Piyush Goyal has said is true. That is the experience of people (of the state),” Javadekar, who is also the BJP’s poll-in-charge for Tamil Nadu, told reporters here.
Goyal in his reported remarks at a meeting in Delhi had said he was unable to meet the Chief Minister or state ministers during the last 22 months of his tenure.
The MoS for Power had reportedly during a speech on ‘Making India a Global Economic Superpower’ at a conference in New Delhi on March 25, said, “It (Tamil Nadu) is a state within a state and is part of the country where I can’t even reach out to the Chief Minister.”
The ruling AIADMK had yesterday hit back at Goyal over his remarks, terming it as “baseless allegations” and charged him with trying to seek “political mileage” in poll-bound Tamil Nadu.
In a rebuttal, Party Treasurer and Finance Minister O Panneerselvam said, “There is no iota of truth in Goyal’s remarks that he was neither able to meet the Chief Minister nor state Ministers during the last 22 months.”
Deserted by former allies, BJP is cobbling together a new alliance with smaller parties in Tamil Nadu for the May 16 Assembly election.
Javadekar had recently announced, “BJP along with our friends, Indiya Jananayaka Katchi (IJK), New Justice Party (NJP) and some other parties who are willing to come with us, is contesting the upcoming Assembly (polls).”
PTI