Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president K Annamalai on Sunday attacked Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin for making yet another promise of a state-of-the-art cricket stadium in Coimbatore.
Reacting to Stalin’s announcement, Annamalai termed the announcement an “election stunt” and reminded him that the DMK has to fulfill its 511 election promises before making new promises. He said that DMK is making this promise sensing defeat in Coimbatore constituency.
Annamalai posted on Are.”
He said the DMK’s election stunts cannot deceive the youth and sports lovers in Coimbatore, as they have become increasingly alert.
“DMK is a party that could not build a new bus terminal in Coimbatore in the last 3 years; It is promising today to have a stadium that should be considered the joke of the year and deserves a slow clap from the people of Coimbatore,” Annamalai said.
Notably, Annamalai is contesting from the Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat and his comments come in response to the recent promise made by Stalin as part of his party’s (DMK) election manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, in which he has Construction was promised. State-of-the-art cricket stadium in Coimbatore.
On 28 March, Annamalai filed his nomination from Coimbatore parliamentary constituency. Annamalai, a Karnataka cadre IPS officer, resigned from the service in 2019 and joined the BJP in 2020. He was appointed state president of BJP one year late.
Sharing a post by state Industries Minister TRB Raja on Twitter, the DMK chief said, “As a sports and cricket lover, I would like to add one more promise in my election manifesto for #Elections2024: (?) We Will try for this.” Set up a state-of-the-art cricket stadium in Coimbatore, with active participation of the sports loving people of #Coimbatore. As underlined by our Minister @TRBRajaa, this stadium aims to become Tamil Nadu’s second international-standard cricket venue after the iconic MAC Stadium in Chennai. Our government and Sports Minister @Udhaystalin are committed to nurturing talent and enhancing sports infrastructure in Tamil Nadu.
Minister TRB Raja in his post highlighted that Coimbatore and the state of Tamil Nadu need a massive boost in sports infrastructure.
“Dreaming big for #TamilNadu #Cricket! Over the past few days, as we campaigned in #Coimbatore, we have met many youth with a deep passion for #sports. Coimbatore’s enthusiasm for various sports including athletics, shooting, car racing, football, skating, horse riding, and especially cricket is unmatched. It is home to the owners of 3 TNPL teams, and many rising national cricket stars are from western Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Raja said that the stadium will redefine cricket standards globally by becoming the most sustainably built state-of-the-art stadium in the world.
“This could be a #netzero stadium, which will not only boost our local cricket ecosystem to which we will add #SmallTurfGrounds, but will also serve as a beacon of #green innovation, water-conservation and climate-consciousness. We respectfully request our honorable #Chief Minister
“@mkstalin avargal will bring this historic #SportsInfra to life, set a new global benchmark and nurture our rich sporting talent,” he said.
Minister TRB Raja also said that there is a need to boost sports infrastructure in a big way in Coimbatore and across Tamil Nadu.
“This is exactly what our Honorable Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Thiru@UdayaStalin has been building for the last one year! Considering the amazing talent available in and around #Kovai and the real need for another world class cricket stadium in TN, I request the Honorable #Chief Minister Thiru @MKStalinAvargal to set up a new worldclassmultipurpose #Coimbatore_International_Cricket_Stadium…or… #CICS: ) ,” He added.
Coimbatore is one of the major constituencies in Tamil Nadu. DMK has fielded Ganapathy P Kumar, while All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has nominated Singai Ramachandran to contest from Coimbatore.
All 39 seats in Tamil Nadu will go to polls in the first phase of the general elections on April 19 and counting of votes along with other phases is scheduled for June 4.
In 2019, the DMK swept the Lok Sabha elections in the state, winning 23 Lok Sabha seats and securing a major share of 33.2 per cent of the total votes.
Its ruling ally, the Congress, won 8 seats, receiving 12.9 percent of the total votes, while the CPI won two seats. CPI(M) and IUML won one seat each while the remaining two seats went to independents.
