BJP organises grand Pongal celebrations in poll-bound Tamil Nadu after 'Vel Yatra' fiasco

With an aim to woo the voters in Tamil Nadu, the state's BJP unit has launched "Namma Ooru Pongal" event and has instructed its district units to celebrate Pongal in a grand manner. While top leaders in the state including newly inducted Khushboo Sundar will lead the campaign, the district heads have been told to undertake a door-to-door campaign as well to highlight the welfare schemes of the Narendra Modi government. BJP state president L Murugan launched the event in Tirunelveli on Sunday. 

The saffron party has also roped in Actor Radharavi and music composer Gangai Amaren to be part of the event, as per local reports. The Twitter handle of the BJP has posted videos of Pongal along with pictures of Prime Minister Modi and BJP national president JP Nadda alongside Murugan. This comes after the saffron party in November last year had organised Vel Yatra, to celebrate Tamil deity Lord Muruga. 

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Tamil Nadu 'Pongal Gift' row

This comes amid the 'Pongal gift' distribution row in the state. The Madras High Court had earlier ruled that no political banners and cutouts must be displayed outside ration shops without valid permission during the distribution, after DMK wrote to Election Commission (EC) seeking to stop the AIADMK govt from issuing 'Pongal Free Gift Tokens' with CM E Palaniswami (EPS)'s photo. Currently, ration shops across Tamil Nadu have begun distributing Pongal gift hampers - which contain a cloth bag, contains one kilo each of rice and sugar, 20 grams each of cashew nuts and raisins, five grams of cardamom and a full piece of sugarcane. On December 19, CM EPS announced that all 2.06 crore ration-card holders in Tamil Nadu will receive a 'Pongal gift hamper', starting from January 4. The government had allotted Rs 5,604.84 crore for the scheme. A dhoti and a saree were also given free of cost to beneficiaries under a welfare scheme, for which the government has made an allocation of Rs 484.25 crore.

However, Stalin, later said that he is not against of Rs. 2,500 Pongal gift, but want it to be raised to Rs. 5,000 and distributed through the concerned government department staff. "Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has levelled a baseless allegation against our party that we are trying to stop distribution of Rs. 2,500 Pongal gift. It is not true. We are not trying to stop it, instead it should be raised to Rs. 5,000 as we have already demanded early during the pandemic lockdown."

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Tamil Nadu Assembly elections

Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu are due during April-May 2021 and the political parties have started their campaign. While DMK's MK Stalin is eyeing becoming Chief Minister for the first time, AIADMK has arrived at reconciliation between two warring factions - of Deputy CM O Pannerselvam (OPS) and CM E Palaniswamy (EPS). Incumbent E Palaniswamy has been named as its CM candidate and O Panneerselvam as the chief of the 11-member steering committee. The BJP is yet to make a formal announcement of the alliance with AIADMK and is in talks with Stalin's estranged brother MK Alagiri. On the other side, AIADMK has said that they are the big-brother within the NDA alliance. Meanwhile, Kamal Hassan is on a campaign trail and Alagiri has said that the launch of his political party will be in January. Superstar Rajinikanth who was about to launch his party this year has backed out due to health reasons. 

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