Chennai: Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah, who is in Tamil Nadu, on Sunday pitched for making a Tamil as Prime Minister in the future. Sources said Shah held a closed-door meeting with South Chennai Parliamentary constituency BJP functionaries regarding the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Speaking at the meeting, Amit Shah said, "We have lost the opportunity (of a Tamil PM) twice namely K Kamaraj and GK Moopanar. DMK is the reason for this loss. In the future, we will make a commitment to make a Tamil as the Prime Minister. The Chief Minister and the Prime Minister should come from a poor family," Shah said, according to sources.
He also urged the BJP functionaries to work towards winning 25 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and strengthen the booth committees for this purpose. "Tamil Nadu should win by double digits in parliamentary elections. We will set a target to win 25 seats in Tamil Nadu in the upcoming parliamentary elections. While 60 per cent of the booth committee work has been completed in South Chennai Parliamentary Constituency, the remaining 40 per cent work should be completed by September. BJP executives have to work hard to win the South Chennai parliamentary seat. The achievements of the BJP government's 9-year rule should be taken to the people," he said.
"There should be a BJP executive for each side of the voter list. In that way, attention should also be paid to setting up a Page Committee following the Booth Committee. I am not new to the power outage when I walked down the road near the Chennai Airport. It shows that Tamil Nadu is in the dark. We will bring light to Tamil Nadu in darkness," he said.
On Saturday, street lights went off outside Chennai airport when Shah arrived in the southern state. BJP workers staged protests demanding an investigation into the issue and claimed that this was a security lapse.
After the Chennai meeting, Shah also addressed a public meeting in Vellore. Notably, regarding Amit Shah's visit to Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister MK Stalin said on Saturday, "The media are reporting that Union Minister Amit Shah is coming to Chennai to speak in a public meeting at Vellore. The reason for this is they are getting ready for the Parliament election."
BJP state president K Annamalai refused the speculations and said, "Getting Vellore and South Chennai seats is not the reason behind Amit Shah's visit to Tamil Nadu. Whenever leaders come to Tamil Nadu, they are visiting various constituencies and that is how this has to be seen."
"Amit Shah was wishing to visit Vellore for a long time. Leaders are visiting different constituencies. Six months ago, JP Nadda visited Sivaganga and Prime Minister Narendra Narendra Modi was also about to come to Tamil Nadu in two or three months. Our party selected South Chennai and Vellore for Amit Shah to attend meetings," Annamalai added.
AC Shanmugam who contested from Vellore in 2019 met Shah on Saturday. He competed against Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's (DMK) Kathi Anand and lost the election by a margin of 8,141 votes. Earlier in April, Union Minister of State L Murugan had said that BJP was focusing on nine constituencies in Tamil Nadu, including south Chennai.
Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Amit Shah's visit to Tamil Nadu is significant. BJP sources said, "Amit Shah's visit sets the shape and his visit to South Chennai and Vellore is an added advantage ahead of the election." "AC Shanmugam has a face value in Vellore which BJP believes would help them in the constituency and they also believe BJP has an edge in South Chennai which is now with DMK," sources added.
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