“A chance to revive Kamaraj rule at grassroots level”

Union Minister for Shipping G.K.Vasan on Sunday said that the Congress now has got a chance to revive the Kamaraj rule at the grassroots level as the party is facing the local body elections alone after a gap of 43 years. Canvassing for party candidates here on Sunday, Mr. Vasan said that all these years Dravidian parties had been ruling the State alternately with the support of the Congress but these parties had not fulfilled the expectations of the electorate. Kamaraj brought about a revolution in the spheres of education, industry and agriculture that made the State to occupy the top slot in the country. ASSURANCE TO ELECTORATE The Union Minister assured the electorate that if the Congress candidates got elected they would function with the same kind of farsightedness for improving the basic amenities and standard of living of the people. He underscored the point that the credit for strengthening the democratic set up at the panchayat level went to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who strove for the uplift of the rural poor. Mr. Vasan said that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government, under the guidance of All India Congress Committee leader Sonia Gandhi, had been contributing a great deal for the development of rural areas. Significant among its programmes was “Bharat Nirman” for which the government had sanctioned Rs 58,000 crore, 21 per cent higher than what was allocated last year, for improving the villages located in close proximity to urban areas.