Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in Chennai on the evening of Saturday, June 10, amid a war of words between leaders of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Tamil Nadu unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over various issues in the state. Amid the political altercations, observers have also been curious about Amit Shah’s activities in the state, including whom he would be meeting during his quick stopover in Chennai before leaving for Andhra Pradesh.
Since his arrival in Chennai on Saturday, Shah is reported to have met several industrialists, sportspersons, and film and television personalities from Tamil Nadu. The Home Minister reportedly met PS Rajan of India Cements, textile businessman Nalli Kuppusami, and Apollo Hospitals executive vice chairperson Preetha Reddy and her husband Vijayakumar Reddy. According to reports, Shah also met popular music director GV Prakash, film directors RK Selvamani and AR Rajasekaran, film producer Abirami Ramanathan, Padma Shri awardee basketball player Anitha Pauldurai, cricketer Sivaramakrishnan. Shah further reportedly met Nawab of Arcot Mohamed Abdhul Ali, and the heir-apparent and Dewan to the prince of Arcot, Nawabsadha Mohammed Asif Ali.
The other people who reportedly met Amit Shah include New Justice Party leader AC Shanmugam who also founded the Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute, Parivendhar Pachamuthu and Ravi Pachamuthu (SRM University), Devanathan (Win TV), Isari Ganesh (Vels University), sports personality Baskaran, Jai Kishan Jhaveer (Tablets India), Pramod Ranjan (Taj Group’s hotel arm Oriental Hotels Limited) and Santhana Krishnan (Chartered Accountants firm PKF). The Home Minister also had a telephonic conversation with Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi after arriving in Chennai.
Ahead of Amit Shah’s visit, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said that the only achievement of the BJP in Tamil Nadu was the incomplete Madurai AIIMS (All India Institute Of Medical Science). “It was announced in 2015 by the Union government, but it does not have the heart to allocate Rs 21,000 crore for this project,” Stalin said, adding, “The BJP is only trying to impose Sanskrit and Hindi and is facing an election by trusting the AIADMK, which has not won a single election since the demise of former CM Jayalalithaa.” Stalin made these remarks while speaking at a DMK event in Salem.
Amit Shah is scheduled to attend a party event at Pallikonda in Vellore district on Sunday, June 11, where he is expected to talk about the BJP-led Union government’s achievements in the last nine years. The Union Home Minister’s visit is part of a two-day travel itinerary covering Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.