CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Sunday challenged DMK president and Chief Minister M K Stalin to promise that the posts of CM and DMK president would be made available to long-serving party functionaries on merit. He alleged that Stalin was seeking to entrench dynastic politics in Tamil Nadu by elevating Udhayanidhi Stalin to the post of deputy CM. Palaniswami further said the upcoming Assembly elections will provide an opportunity to end what he described as dynastic rule in the state.
Palaniswami posed this challenge to Stalin at a public meeting in Padiyanallur, in the Madhavaram Assembly constituency, as part of his statewide tour.
“In the past, monarchs ruled kingdoms and passed the crown to their sons. Stalin is attempting to replicate that model in TN. M Karunanidhi served as CM; thereafter, his son, M K Stalin, became both DMK president and CM. Now, Udhayanidhi Stalin is being elevated step-by-step and appointed deputy CM solely because he was born into the Karunanidhi family,” Palaniswami said.
The AIADMK leader also charged that those who have devoted decades of service to the DMK have been sidelined. “Take, for instance, a veteran leader like Duraimurugan. He has served the party for many years but was not given the deputy CM post because he does not belong to the Karunanidhi family,” Palaniswami said and added that, contrary to this scenario, in the AIADMK, those who work for the party will reach the top.
Later, speaking at another public meeting at the Ponneri Assembly constituency, he reiterated the party’s 10 election promises. Palaniswami said that at present, Rs 8,000 is being provided as relief to fishers during the fishing ban. “Once the AIADMK comes to power, this amount will be increased to Rs 12,000,” he announced.
Referring to Udhayanidhi describing him as BJP’s ‘murattu adimai’ (crude slave), he asked, “If he calls me a slave, how will he describe his own grandfather, M Karunanidhi, who allied with the BJP and shared the stage with its then leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee? Udhayanidhi should speak cautiously. He is inexperienced and should not utter whatever comes to mind,”
Palaniswami also said that in politics it is common practice for parties to form alliances during elections to prevent votes from splitting. “Many of those who were once in alliance with the AIADMK are now aligned with the DMK, and those who were with the DMK are now part of the AIADMK alliance. Alliances change from one election to another. Yet Udhayanidhi chooses to speak as though this were unusual,” he added.
The AIADMK leader further criticised the DMK alliance as ‘unstable’ and hounded by power-sharing demands from the Congress and VCK. In a veiled reference to the DMDK, he said that a party, which recently joined the DMK-led front, also demanded the deputy CM post at a meeting. However, the AIADMK-led alliance remains united in driving out the DMK from power and appointing the AIADMK representative as the CM.
So far, Palaniswami has covered around 190 Assembly constituencies, and he is expected to complete his campaign tour in a couple more weeks.