The AIADMK general secretary, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, on Sunday said that the ruling DMK was spreading rumours of his party still having links with the BJP.
Speaking at a marriage function for 100 couples in Dharmapuri, he said the AIADMK was a family that was not bound by any caste or religion. Unable to bear the fact that the party had snapped ties with the BJP, DMK president and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and his party functionaries were spreading “poisonous rumours” that the AIADMK had indirect links with the BJP, he added.
“The DMK got votes of minorities by cheating them, and we [the AIADMK] have put a full stop to it. In the past two-and-a-half years of the DMK government, nothing had been done for this [Dharmapuri] district. When the AIADMK was in power,, to increase the groundwater level and provide water to farmers, it announced a scheme at a cost of ₹500 crore to bring surplus water from the South Pennar River. But in the DMK government, the works for the scheme are progressing at a slow pace,” he added.
Alleging that the DMK government stopped many welfare schemes introduced by the AIADMK, Mr. Palaniswami said the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) was originally brought in when the DMK was a part of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, and the same parties were now speaking against the test.
He further said: “Considering the welfare of government school students, we [the AIADMK government] brought in 7.5% internal reservation in medical seats, and now over 2,500 students are studying MBBS and BDS. From cities to villages, drugs are available. This is the main reason for many crimes. The law and order situation [in the State] is at its worst.” Alleging that the DMK had not fulfilled most of its poll promises, he said only one or two promises had been fulfilled. Farmers are protesting against the acquisition of 3,300 acres of farmland in Tiruvannamalai district for SIPCOT expansion, but the DMK government had detained them under the Goondas Act. Only after many political parties raised objections, it withdrew the action against them, he added.
“The general public will teach a lesson to the DMK in the upcoming parliamentary election,” he added.
