DMK trying to bribe voters through freebies: Sushma

Tirupur (TN), Mar 31: Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj today accused Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK of trying to bribe the voters by promising freebies like grinders and laptops in its manifesto for April 13 Assembly polls.

Launching BJP's election campaign at the country's hosiery hub here, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha said DMK remembered the electorate only during election time.

"They could have given these items in the last five years. Why (make the promise) only at the time of elections? They want to bribe and garner votes", she alleged.

BJP, contesting the polls in alliance with Janata Party, was seeking votes to become an effective opposition so that the government could be put on the mat as was being done with the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh, she said.

She requested the electorate to elect an impressive number of BJP MLAs so that they can speak and fight for their cause.

"If the opposition is effective, the government would always be on its toes," she said.

Though BJP did not have a single MLA or MP in Tamil Nadu, it had taken up the issues of fishermen being killed allegedly by Sri Lankan Navy and also rehabilitation of displaced Tamils in the island nation, she said.

In the past 20 years, more than 500 Tamil fishermen were killed and both the central and state governments were "sleeping doing nothing", she said.

On Sri Lankan Tamils issue, Swaraj said she had pressed for ''dignified'' rehabilitation of all Tamils displaced in the Eelam war and even suggested Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee form a monitoring panel to ensure proper utilisation of Rs 500 crore allocated by India for this purpose.

Stating that BJP was able to put the UPA government on the mat on 2G spectrum, Commonwealth Games, Adarsh Housing Society scams and also over the appointment of CVC, she said there was need for effective opposition to seek an audit of the ruling party's governance.

It was a "shame" that a former Central minister (Raja) was languishing in jail, she said.

BJP was playing the role of both a ruling and opposition party successfully, since it was in power in seven states and functioned as an effective opposition in both the Houses of parliament, she said.

PTI