AIADMK leadership 'surrendered' to BJP, alleges Rahul Gandhi at Kanniyakumari rally

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that the AIADMK leadership has ''surrendered'' to the BJP due to their ''corruption''. Asserting that the DMK, Congress and their allies were protecting the Tamil language, culture and history, Gandhi said, ''they (RSS) also know that Tamils could challenge them.'' Underscoring federal principles, Gandhi said every state should have its own voice and representation. ''People of each state should run their own state. But, the BJP does not think like this... it believes it is one tradition, one language and one history,'' the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said. Gandhi said Tamil Nadu should be governed by its people and accused the BJP of ''trying to weaken'' states. ''BJP does not adhere to the Constitution... BJP wants to weaken the states.'' Referring to Manipur conflict, he said, ''Look what they have done to Manipur, a peaceful state. They set fire to it hundreds people died and the civil war is still carrying on.'' Recalling the debates over women reservation and delimitation bills in the Parliament, Gandhi said BJP's real intent was to change the electoral structure of the country. ''There is only one way to describe what they were doing as an anti-national action,'' he alleged. ''that is why we defeated the bill in the Parliament and we will continue to defeat any bill that tries to take away representation of anybody in the country,'' Gandhi added.