Cong should stop piggyback riding in TN: Makwana

Hyderabad, June 15 (UNI) The Congress should stop aligning with the two Dravidian parties alternatively in Tamil Nadu , All India Congress Committee Scheduled Castes Department Chairman Yogendra Makwana said today.

Addressing a meeting of the SCs department here to prepare the party for the 2009 Lok Sabha and Assembly Elections, he said the Congress had been marginalised ever since it tied up with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) alternatively.

''Even if it means losing some seats, the Congress should contest on its own, build the party from the grassroots level and restore its past glory,'' he felt.

After the rout in 1967 elections in Tamil Nadu fought on the anti-Hindi platform, the Congress has been piggyback riding on the DMK and later the AIADMK in subsequent elections.

Referring to the massive irrigation initiative of the Congress Government in Andhra Pradesh, AICC Secretary Jayakumar dismissed as too small the DMK Government getting over Rs 4700 crore for the Irrigation sector from the World Bank. The Rajasekhara Reddy Government was implementing mamooth irrigation projects worth over 47,000 crore to bring cheers to the lives of common man, he added.

UNI