Tamil Nadu polls: PM campaigns in Madurai; tax raids on MK Stalin's son-in-law in Chennai

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in West Bengal on Thursday, will be campaigning in Kerala and Tamil Nadu on Friday ahead of the 6 April Assembly election. Modi started his campaign with a public meeting in Madurai before leaving for Kerala, where he has his second public meeting scheduled at 1.45 pm in Pathanamthitta. He will be campaigning in Tamil Nadu later again where he has a third meeting scheduled in Viveknanada College Ground at 4.15 pm. For the fourth and final meeting of the day, the prime minister will be Thiruvanantpuram at 6.15 pm. Meanwhile, DMK chief MK Stalin’s son-in-law was raided by Income Tax officials on Friday. Searches started around 8 am at four places in Chennai owned by Sabareesan and his associates. The DMK has complained to the Election Commission, calling it “abuse of power” by the Income Tax department. On Tuesday, addressing a rally in Palakkad, Modi said that the only difference between the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Congress-led United Democractic Front (UDF) was there names, adding their “match-fixing” was the “worst kept secret” of Kerala politics. He had also targeted Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the gold smuggling scandal, saying his government “betrayed Kerala for a few pieces of gold like the Judas”. He added that the first-time voter of Kerala is now asking - what is this match-fixing? Five years one loots, five years the other loots, he said. “Both have their marked areas for making money. UDF has not even spared the rays of the sun.” On the same day, speaking at another election rally in Tamil Nadu’s Dharapuram, Modi launched into a tirade against the DMK-Congress alliance. He said if they come to power, they will insult women even more, adding they can never guarantee women empowerment. The Congress and DMK leaders have nothing positive to offer,  Modi said and added they hardly talk about their own vision and work. All they do is demean others and spread lies. The 140-member Kerala assembly and 234-seat Tamil Nadu assembly will go to polls in a single phase on 6 April. The results will be declared on 6 May.