EPS hits out at DMK over ‘false’ promises

MADURAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said that the DMK government failed the poor by not implementing schemes for their welfare, only enacting a drama, issuing false poll promises, at a poll rally in Dindigul district.

The Leader of Opposition listed various welfare schemes implemented during the AIADMK regime for the benefit of ordinary people, while addressing a rally at Natham in Dindigul district on Saturday under the ‘Makkalai Kaapom, Tamizhagathai Meetpom’ campaign.

He added that AIADMK stalwarts MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa sacrificed their lives for the good of the people. These stalwarts did not have biological children, but considered the people of Tamil Nadu as their heirs, EPS said, taking a dig at the first family of the DMK government. Both the leaders worked for people’s welfare till their last breath, Palaniswami said. The AIADMK will sensitise people, serve them, whether in power or not, he added.

Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin could not tolerate AIADMK serving the poor and mudslinging the party, he said. Only at the intervention of AIADMK, the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai, which provides monthly assistance of Rs 1,000 to women family heads, was implemented by the ruling DMK and that too after a gap of 28 months, he said. This scheme was implemented with the intent to garner votes, but not after realising the difficulties of the women, EPS said.

With just seven months left for the ruling DMK, the government announced the Magalir Urimai Thogai scheme for 30 lakh more women in the State, EPS said, criticising it as opportunistic. People were lured with false promises, and the DMK government delivered on only about 10 per cent of 525 promises made in its manifesto before the 2021 Assembly polls, Palaniswami said.