Sharpening Tamil Nadu’s opposition to the One Nation One Poll (ONOP) push of the Union Government, Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin on Saturday charged that it was designed to make Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the country’s dictator, which is not good even for the BJP.

“It (ONOP) will lead to a single party government, with concentration of powers in the hands of one person. It is solely intended to make current Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the dictator. It is not good even for the BJP,” he said addressing the third state conference of the party’s Lawyers’ Wing. The ruling DMK has been opposing the simultaneous elections to Parliament and State Assemblies right from the beginning, when the idea was mooted and the panel headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind was constituted to study it. Following stiff opposition from the INDIA Bloc in Parliament, the Bill had been sent to the Standing Committee.

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In a fervent appeal to the allies of the BJP not to support the legislation and fall prey to the deceit of the saffron party, he said “For political reasons, you may be aligning with the BJP, but you should not fall into the trap laid by the BJP and those organisations operating as its brains. Supporting the BJP is your preference. But every political party which reposes its faith in democracy should oppose this move, which is antagonistic to federal principles. We should fight against any move undermining federalism which is enshrined in the Constitution.”

Coming down heavily on the ‘duplicitous modus operandi’ of the BJP, Stalin said, “The BJP’s project and action plan are intended for a long term and not confined to a short term. Now they are saying simultaneous elections for the whole country. It might not be far off when they come up saying that one election is enough for the entire country. They will create such a situation.”

Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin accused the BJP-led Union Government of dismantling the pillars of the Constitutional edifice. In a message to the conference, he said “The DMK together with the INDIA Bloc will defeat the designs of the BJP and protect the Constitution.”