AIADMK coordinator O. Panneerselvam maintained on Sunday that his party remained the principal Opposition party in and outside the Assembly. He said the DMK government was not resolving the issues of people but was interfering in religious matters, something that he said should stop at once.
In a nine-page statement, he said television news channel debates in the recent past “attempted to make out that the AIADMK was lax in its role”. His party remained true to former Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai’s definition of how an Opposition party must function.
Listing the statements he had issued over various issues since May last year, Mr. Panneerselvam said, “Be it in or outside the Assembly, the AIADMK has been the best Opposition party and the principal Opposition party in highlighting people’s issues for the Central and State governments to find solutions.”
He said he had taken up various issues of the State with the Prime Minister and other Union Ministers through letters. “These are enough to prove that the AIADMK has been functioning efficiently”. Late AIADMK leader and former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa taught the party how to serve people while in government and how to point out anti-people measures when in opposition, he said.
“Given the DMK’s bad governance during the past one year and the actions of the AIADMK, I can assert that the next rule in Tamil Nadu will be that of the AIADMK,” he said.
Instead of resolving issues of people, the DMK government was “creating problems by poking its nose into religious matters”, he alleged. It could not be accepted under any circumstances and the government must stop it at once. Else, this would become a tool for the end of this government, he said.
His statement came after the Department of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments sought to inspect the accounts of the Sri Sabanayagar Temple in Chidambaram.
