AIADMK general secretary and former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Sunday, October 22, said the DMK’s recently launched signature campaign against the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) was a drama before the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Though the DMK in its 2021 election manifesto had assured that it would scrap NEET immediately after coming to power, the party is now embarking on a campaign to get signatures from 50 lakh people after over two-and-a-half years of forming the government, he said, adding that since the 2024 parliamentary election was nearing, the DMK was staging this drama.
According to him, the DMK government’s only achievement was making Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin a Minister. He challenged Mr. Udhayanidhi, who had criticised the zero percentile for NEET PG, to scrap the test.
Speaking at a function in Seelanaickenpatti, in which many Muslims joined the AIADMK, Mr. Palaniswami listed the schemes implemented for the benefit of Muslims during the erstwhile AIADMK regime.
Stating that members of the minority community could meet him anytime, he claimed that the AIADMK was the only party that was protecting minorities irrespective of whether it was in power or not.
He said the DMK portrayed the AIADMK as anti-minorities. “In 1999, the DMK had an alliance with the BJP and got berths in the Cabinet. Due to some circumstances, AIADMK was in an alliance with the BJP, but we did not give up our principles. When differences of opinion arose with the BJP government, we snapped the alliance in 1998,” he said.
“Now the DMK is part of INDIA bloc, but what is the benefit for the people? We do not get our share of Cauvery water from Karnataka. The Chief Minister had gone to Bengaluru to speak about the alliance, but why did he not speak to the Karnataka Chief Minister to get at least 10 TMC of water? The DMK only wants to be in power at the Centre,” he said.
He further said that without water, crops were affected in the delta region and the price of rice would increase in the coming days.
Alleging that the DMK government failed to maintain law and order in Tamil Nadu, Mr. Palaniswami said: “During the erstwhile AIADMK regime, law and order was maintained well and the State was kept peaceful, but now in the DMK government, law and order is at its worst. Ganja is available in all places and DMK cadre are allegedly selling it.”
“We clearly said we have snapped our alliance with the BJP. But Mr. Stalin and his son claim that the AIADMK is the B team of the BJP. We are not the B team of anyone. We are the original team,” he said.
According to him, in the past two-and-a-half years, no schemes or projects had been brought to Salem district. The Chief Minister only named the projects that the AIADMK brought in for Salem, Mr. Palaniswami said.
