PUDUCHERRY: Union home minister Amit Shah took a dig at the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of lying repeatedly about the India-US trade deal. Addressing a public meeting at Karaikal, Puducherry’s enclave, 140km south of its headquarters, during his two-day visit to Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, Shah brushed aside the opposition charges and maintained that the interests of the farmers and fishermen were “protected 100%” in the agreement. He said the farmers’ interests were compromised only during the previous UPA govt. “Rahul Gandhi’s policy is to lie, lie loudly and repeat it,” he said. Shah paid tributes to the CRPF personnel martyred in the Pulwama terror attack. He said the previous Congress-led UPA govt had not retaliated strongly to the terror attacks, but the NDA govt led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi carried out Balakot airstrikes targeting terrorist camps in Pakistan. Shah complimented the NDA govt led by All India NR Congress (AINRC) founder-president and chief minister N Rangasamy of curbing corruption, ensuring political stability and strengthening Puducherry’s autonomy. He charged that the previous Congress govt led by former chief minister V Narayanasamy of turning Puducherry into an ‘ATM for the Gandhi family’. He said the previous govt had sold UG, PG and diploma medical seats, including those reserved for SC and ST candidates, to rich people. The NDA secured 44% vote share in the 2021 assembly polls and the alliance “aims at securing 60% and winning 24 out of 30 seats in Puducherry in the ensuing polls,” he added. Shah later met the office-bearers of the BJP party’s Puducherry unit and chaired a meeting with Rangasamy, election in-charges and state in-charges at Karaikal in the afternoon, marking the commencement of seat-sharing talks.
