Accusing the Gujarat government of starting a “rat race” by luring industries from other states, a Congress MP from Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore Sambandam Keerapalayam Alagiri(KS Alagiri) today in a letter to Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma sought Centre’s intervention stalling the reported moves of Ford India and Hyundai to go out of the state for expansion projects. Following is frustration that K S Alagiri expresses in his letter:

-The recent move by automobile majors to shift their expansion projects to Gujarat will dent the image of Tamil Nadu as the automobile capital of the country

-The Centre must persuade the automobile majors not to take their expansion projects outside the state as Tamil Nadu government is addressing the problem of power.

-The companies are blaming power problems and industrial relations in the state for their moves. Both these issues are not insurmountable problems.Barring a few stray incidents, the industrial relations in the state have been satisfactory and there have been no strikes or lockouts in major industries in the state for the last several years.

-A large number of ancillary industries have come up around the plants of these automobile companies. They will be starved for orders in near future.

-Gujarat government started a “rat race by luring the Tatas to set up the Nano plant two years ago. Now they are courting Hyundai and Ford to set up their expansion projects in the state.

-In future, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi would urge even the software industry to shift their base from Bangalore to Ahmedabad.

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