Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Saturday launch the Tamil Nadu government’s ‘Amma scooter scheme’ for women, the birth anniversary of late chief minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa. Confirming Modi’s visit, and calling it a positive gesture from the Central government, AIADMK MP and senior leader V Maitreyan had told The Indian Express on Tuesday, “The subsidised scooter programme for women was Amma’s (Jayalalithaa’s) pet project. It was in our manifesto for the 2016 elections. She had announced the scheme after the victory (in Assembly polls).” “Being a friend of Amma, we welcome his (Modi’s) decision to launch the scheme on her birthday,” said Maitreyan, who is seen as close to Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and BJP leaders in Delhi. The development comes nearly a week after Panneerselvam revealed at a public rally in Theni district of Tamil Nadu that Prime Minister Modi had insisted that he join the cabinet of his then-rival Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and merge the warring factions of the party. While welcoming Modi’s decision to visit the state, a senior AIADMK leader said Panneerselvam’s remarks had hurt the BJP leadership and called it a “betrayal of confidence” by the deputy CM. “If they (BJP) want to reach out to the people of Tamil Nadu, they have no other option but to keep us in good humour. But Panneerselvam should not have revealed his conversation with PM Modi; it was a betrayal of confidence — the Prime Minister will now think twice before giving us any advice in future.” Another senior leader close to Panneerselvam said that the AIADMK leader’s statement about Modi’s role in the party’s merger was not to embarrass the PM. “He (Panneerselvam) was hurt at being denied meeting (with) PM Modi, and he was talking from his heart at the rally,” the party leader said. “During the merger, he was also promised a post deemed equal to that of the CM, and that other leader from his camp would also be given respectable positions - in the government or the party. With the Palaniswami government completing one year, the PM’s visit may help us get some deserving positions.” The leader was referring to complaints from those in Panneerselvam camp that Palaniswami had sidelined them. Modi’s trip to south India was originally planned for another event - the 50th-anniversary celebrations of Auroville and a public meeting in Puducherry on February 25.
