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War of words escalates as TN CM calls P Chidambaram ‘a burden for the earth’

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami called P Chidambaram ‘a burden for the earth’ on Tuesday. He made this comment in response to Chidambaram’s jibe at the AIADMK government.

“For how long has Chidambaram been a Union Minister. What has he done for the country? He is just burden for the earth,” the Chief Minister said. He was speaking to reporters at Mettur, Salem on Tuesday as the sluice gates of the Stanley Reservoir across river Cauvery were opened.

Slamming P Chidambaram for being ‘selfish’ during his tenure as the Union Finance Minister, Edappadi Palaniswami questioned what Chidambaram had done for Tamil Nadu despite having been a central minister. “What scheme has he brought and implemented (in Tamil Nadu)? He was finance minister for many years, did he even give the required funds? Or did he set up new industries? Did he at least solve the Cauvery water dispute or Mullaiperiyar dam issue or the Palar issue? What problem has he solved?” Palaniswami questioned.

Stating that people have already rejected P Chidambaram as a leader, Palaniswami asked how many times had Chidambaram come down and met his people when he was a Union minister. “For him, his own welfare is important and not the welfare of the country. Hence there is no need to care about his words. People have rejected him already. For him, power is important,” he added.

These words were in response to P Chidambaram’s jibe at the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu on Monday. Speaking at an event in Chennai, organized by the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, Chidambaram said that the AIADMK government in the state will not resist even if the state is divided into four parts and made into union territories.

“Tomorrow if Tamil Nadu is split into four by naming it Chera, Chozha, Pandiya and Pallava naadu and making all four of these as union territories, thus making it impossible for you to make laws for the state, will you accept it?” Chidambaram said. Taking a jibe at the AIADMK government’s support for various central government initiatives in the recent times, he said, “The Government of Tamil Nadu must be dissolved (for dividing the state and announcing it as union territories). Even if that happens, AIADMK will accept because they don’t oppose anything,” amidst claps from the audience.

P Chidambaram’s son and Sivagangai MP Karti Chidambaram condemned the CM’s statement and said that this was not the way a Chief Minister ought to speak.

“Is that something a Chief Minister should say? Can someone, who became the Chief Minister by a historical accident, use these words at a person who has given budget speech nine times in the Parliament and has got the honour of being the best finance minister in Asia?” he questioned. 

The AIADMK had supported both the bills related to revoking Article 370 in Rajya Sabha though most of the opposition parties in both the houses of the Parliament had strongly opposed the move.

Source: The News Minute