SALEM / NAMAKKAL: To solve water issues in the State, we will take up the Godavari-Cauvery river project at an estimated cost of Rs 60,000 crore, said Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, while campaigning for AIADMK’s Salem MP candidate KRS Saravanan at Attaiyampatti, Omalur and Deevattipatty.Speaking at the meeting, he emphasised the need for a strong Prime Minister for the country. “Veerapandi Assembly constituency is a fort of AIADMK and so people should make the party win by a huge margin,” he said.
Criticising DMK president MK Stalin for saying that the government has not implemented any scheme in the State, the CM said it has achieved a lot in agriculture and electricity sectors. “After the demise of former CM J Jayalalithaa, he thought that AIADMK government would dissolve. However, much to his disappointment, it did not happen,” he charged.
He questioned DMK’s role in the Centre for over 15 years and charged that it only favoured its family members. “Our alliance will form a stable government in this poll and get national attention because we have implemented many schemes in the State,” he asserted.Speaking at Deevattipatty, the CM said that they formed the mega-alliance to provide a better governance but Stalin is criticising leaders without respect. He condemned DMK saying that the party is corrupt.
‘False information’
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy was in Namakkal to campaign for AIADMK’s Lok Sabha (LS) Candidate TLSP Kaliappan on Thursday. Addressing the gathering, he said that DMK leader M K Stalin has been spreading false information. “He should be given Nobel prize for peddling lies,” he said and added that Stalin failed to fulfil his yesteryears’ promise of providing two-acres of land to landless farmers.
Condemning Opposition parties for calling their alliance an opportunistic one, he pointed out at communist parties and MDMK’s shift in the past from one party to another. “The communist parties who opposed Congress in Kerala is supporting the same party in TN. Same is the case with MDMK leader Vaiko. He once criticised DMK but is now working for its victory,” he said and asked people to ponder upon who an opportunistic party was.
Training his guns on KMDK, Palaniswamy said that it is an organisation and not a political party. “They started the party considering Kongu people’s welfare, but now, they are pawns of DMK who are contesting from Namakkal constituency,” he pointed out and asked KMDK to clarify whether its candidate A K P Chinraj belongs to DMK or KMDK. As MDMK candidate is also contesting on DMK’s Rising Sun symbol in Erode, the CM said that it is confusing the people.
‘We maintain law and order’
Stating that the party was assured of its prime ministerial candidate (Narendra Modi) even before the election, he pointed out at DMK’s failure to announce it. Replying to Stalin’s statement that law and order are poor in the State, Palaniswami denied his claims saying that people feel safe and peaceful.
“However, when DMK was in power, it failed to maintain law and order,” he said, citing few incidents. “ DMK did not remove SA Rajkumar, DMK’s Perambalur district deputy secretary, who is in prison for sexual harassment case, from his post till now. Similarly, Sulur (South) union secretary cum former chairman Rajendran and DMK state wing member Chandran who was lodged in prison for abusing a woman on a train were released on bail. Recently, party cadre led by Stalin practised Kangaroo Court,” he said.