DMK's protest against SIR only to divert people from its failures, says Nirmala Sitharaman

Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu), Nov 11 (PTI) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday lashed out at the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu for staging protests against SIR, and claimed this was meant only to divert people's attention from its failures.

Chief Minister M K Stalin was giving the impression that the Special Intensive Revision was "new" and a "conspiracy" by the BJP government. But SIR was conducted ten times before 2000 and thrice after 2000, she said.

"Why this agitation now," Sitharaman asked, referring to the DMK combine's protest earlier in the day, condemning the Election Commission of India for implementing the SIR "in haste." "In his video message, the Chief Minister said SIR will disenfranchise many, and claimed the voting rights of the people should be protected. SIR is not new or a conspiracy as he alleges," the union minister told reporters here.

"I think the DMK is protesting against SIR and alleges a conspiracy only to hide its failure and rejection of people's hardships. This was meant to divert the people's attention and mislead them. This is DMK's strategy," she said.

Sitharaman claimed that there were 4,379 duplicate voters in Kolathur, the home constituency of Stalin. Besides, across the state, there are over seven lakh duplicate voters, 20 lakh fake entries, and 35 lakh voters who have migrated.

"Should we have fake and ineligible entries in the electoral rolls before the polls? Is this what the DMK wants? Can I say they won the election with those bogus votes," she asked.

Earlier, Sitharaman addressed the party members at a zonal meeting of the BJP covering 67 Assembly constituencies held here with state chief Nainar Nagendran in the chair. The meeting discussed various activities focusing on strengthening the organisation at the grass-root level.

BJP national co-incharge for Tamil Nadu and Karnataka Dr Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy, Mahila Morcha national president and legislator Vanathi Srinivasan, and MLA Dr C Saraswathi were among those who participated. PTI JSP JSP KH