Access tough in TN, firms want to move out of state: Gadkari

Chennai, Apr 21: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today said contacting Tamil Nadu authorities was "difficult" and claimed several industries in the state were keen to shift elsewhere, after his Cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal recently alleged that Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was inaccessible.

"Many times it is difficult to contact the authorities in the state. They are not available on phone," he said.

"It seemed the authorities were reluctant to talk without the approval of the Chief Minister. Then how can (there) be progress?" the Union Road Transport and Shipping Minister asked and said, "it is very important (which) you need to think".

Goyal had last month said "It (TN) is a state within a state. It is part of the country where I can't even reach out to the Chief Minister."

His comments were later echoed by his cabinet colleague Prakash Javedakar though Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said "he did not have any problem in meeting with Jayalalithaa."

The comments of Javedakar and Goyal drew sharp criticism from AIADMK Ministers who accused them of playing "cheap politics".

Asserting that "We never mix up politics with development," Gadkari said, "we are helping all the people. We are very positive, but the state government should also cooperate."

Stating that Tamil Nadu had a lot of industries, he said "unfortunately many of the industries now want to divert their business from Tamil Nadu to some other States."

He said: "This is not good thing. This is not good atmosphere for Tamil Nadu."

In order to ensure progress for Tamil Nadu, he said "the most important thing is to create jobs for youth of the state and we need an economic approach which is going to increase the more important potential in Tamil Nadu."

On criticism that NDA government was showing favours to corporates, he said, "when we are developing industrial clusters, it is not for making it advantageous for industries, it is for creating jobs. We are committed to growth."

Earlier, he released the election manifesto of Tamil Nadu BJP labelled "Vision Document."

PTI