PUDUKKOTTAI/THANJAVUR: Canvassing votes for AIADMK candidates and a TMC candidate in Pudukkottai and Thanjavur on Tuesday, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami launched a broadside against DMK president MK Stalin for ‘lying against the government’. He said his challenge for a debate to the DMK chief still remained.
In Pudukkottai district, he was accompanied by Viralimalai candidate and Health Minister C Vijayabaskar and Pudukkottai candidate Karthik Thondaiman during campaigning at Pudukkottai, Viralimalai, Illupur, Thirumayam and Annavasal. “The DMK president spins yarns (a veiled reference to lying) wherever he goes. He keeps on saying that our (AIADMK) government has done nothing. We have implemented the integrated water scheme. We have made the 100-year-old dream of Pudukkottai people into reality through the `14,400 crore project of Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundar link scheme.
The district will turn fertile in a few years. We have waived off crop loans taken by farmers from co-operative banks. From April 1, farmers will get 3-phase power supply for agricultural motors round the clock,” the Chief Minister said. Palaniswami heaped praises on the Health Minister while campaigning at Viralimalai. “Vijayabaskar has done so much for the people of Viralimalai. He met people directly even during the pandemic and enquired about their health. He is the reason behind the Health Department performing well. Our State has performed the maximum number of RT-PCR tests.
Vijayabaskar has created employment opportunities for 3,000 women in the constituency by getting ITC here,” he said. Saying that a government medical college was brought to Pudukkottai after AIADMK came to power, Palaniswami said a government dental college would come up soon in the district. He also called the DMK ‘unruly’ and spoke about the ruckus created in the Assembly in 2017. “This is their behaviour when they are not in power. Imagine what they will do if they are voted to power?” the CM said.
Palaniswami proceeded to Thanjavur to campaign for Peravurani candidate SV Thirugnana Sambandam and Pattukkottai TMC candidate NR Rangarajan at Adirampattinam. The project for modernisation of Grand Anaicut canal, being implemented at a cost of `2,649 crore, would benefit farmers in the tail-end areas of Cauvery delta.
The CM also spelt out the promises made in the AIADMK manifesto, including free LPG cylinders and concrete houses for economically weaker sections. While canvassing votes at Adirampattinam, which has a significant population of minority communities, Palaniswami said that the party stood as a bulwark for the welfare of minorities during the regimes of former Chief Minister MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa. “The present leadership is following their footsteps.” He also indirectly defended the AIADMK’s ties with the BJP when he said parties came together in alliance for elections even though they had their own ideologies.
