Nation Briefs

TN CM Stalin kickstarts poll campaign; slams Palaniswami, NDA

Tiruvarur: Chief Minister MK Stalin launched his campaign for the April 23 Assembly polls here on Tuesday and slammed AIADMK chief Palaniswami as a leader with no long-term vision or understanding. Formally introducing candidates of his party and that of allies and seeking support for them, the DMK chief said the NDA’s sole purpose was to hinder Tamil Nadu’s development. He alleged that NDA’s objective was to “destroy” the development brought about by the Dravidian model. “This is the purpose of the NDA alliance. The BJP, which leads the NDA, has bought the AIADMK because they do not have the strength to oppose us in Tamil Nadu.”

Both AAP, Cong failed to take action in sacrilege incidents: Badal

Jaito: Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday accused the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party of politicising sacrilege incidents, alleging that both their governments failed to take strict action in such cases. Referring to a report, Badal said 597 sacrilege cases were reported in Punjab in the last 10 years, but only 44 resulted in convictions, while 99 ended in acquittals. Addressing a rally under the party’s ‘Punjab Bachao’ campaign, Badal criticised some Panthic leaders for not visiting sites where such sacrilege incidents took place. He also alleged that incidents of sacrilege increased after AAP entered Punjab in 2014, and claimed that an AAP leader had been convicted in one such case.