VELLORE: DMK treasurer, Stalin, on the second day of his tour in Vellore district was offered a bottle of liquor by a college girl at Melvisharam on Wednesday. He politely declined the gift.
Nivethitha, from Bharathi Nagar near Ranipet, studying in C Abdul Hakeem College of Engineering and Technology, was the last to interact with Stalin when he had spent an hour with the students at the college premises. Interacting with media persons, she said, “While people from across the district preferred to offer gifts such as koozh, shawls of their choice, liquor was the only thing which available in plenty for me.”
She said her family was a victim of the liquor menace and that she had lost her father at an early age. She thought of gifting a liquor bottle to Stalin to drive home the ills of liquor.
“It was not to hurt the DMK leader that I gifted liquor,” she said. She wanted him to feel the ground-reality so that when the party is voted to power, total prohibition is imposed in the state to save families such as hers. Stalin assured her that he had heard several heart-breaking incidents involving liquor and the party had already declared that total prohibition would be clamped when voted to power.
While interacting with students, he said that the DMK believing in youth-power has decided to field more youngsters this election. He urged youngsters to join politics and “cleanse the system”.
He also explained the various initiatives taken by his party to improve the quality of education.
“We were the first to introduce two ministers, one for school education and another for higher education,” he pointed out.
Responding to queries from students he said that DMK would certainly introduce Lok Ayukta and Right to Services. Both these Acts were introduced by the party in 1973 in different forms but they were both struck down by the successive AIADMK government, he pointed out.
Later at Arcot he interacted with a group of merchants in a private marriage hall and also listened to problems faced by villagers from illegal sand-mining activities in Wallajahpet. The villagers also submitted a petition to him in this regard.
On Wednesday morning Stalin who had stayed overnight in Vellore began the day with a walk along the Main Bazar Street in the city and interacted with people on the road. He also stepped into a private bus and spoke to some of the passengers. He later met beedi rollers in Kangeyanallaur.