MDMK founder Vaiko on Sunday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack Union Minister for Animal Husbandry Giriraj Singh for “constantly making controversial remarks”.
He was reacting to the Minister’s statement that “our forefathers” did not send Muslims to Pakistan during partition in 1947 and, as a result, “we paid a heavy price”.
In a statement, Mr. Vaiko urged the BJP to clarify whether the Minister’s remark reflected the party’s stand on the issue. He said the Minister was acting against the constitutional oath he had taken and was ignoring his party leaders’ advice not to make such remarks.
In another statement issued in response to the AIADMK government’s decision to cancel a notification on the creation of a Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) in Cuddalore and Nagapattinam, Mr. Vaiko claimed the move represented a victory for his party.
The MDMK leader said he had been consistently seeking the withdrawal of the notification ever since it was issued in July 2017. The MDMK had held protests demanding the withdrawal of the notification, he noted. He reiterated his party’s demand for cancelling an agreement signed by the State government with Haldia Petrochemicals for a petrochemical project in Cuddalore district.
Mr. Vaiko also highlighted his demand for cancelling the nod given to Vedanta Group and ONGC for hydrocarbon exploration, in order to ensure that the Cauvery delta region remains a protected agricultural zone.
