Women’s welfare, DMK’s plank for civic body polls?
CHENNAI: A distinguishing feature of the incumbent DMK-led government has been its focus on women. And with the crucial Urban Local Body (ULB) polls expected in a few months, that focus has gained renewed vigour.It is learnt that Chief Minister MK Stalin has promised his party’s district secretaries a slew of welfare measures for women, to be announced during the Governor’s address.
Talks in this regard were held subsequent to the meeting of DMK’s district secretaries, in-charges thereof, MLAs, and MPs on Saturday. Moreover, the party brass has given the functionaries an array of guidelines to strengthen the party ahead of the ULB polls.
One of the district functionaries told TNIE on condition of anonymity, “The leadership is keen on increasing the vote base of the party at every booth in the upcoming election as the Opposition is crumbling. The high command has instructed us to ensure that at least 30 per cent of voters in every booth become our party members. It also urged us to bring more women and new voters into the party. Having one-third of the voters as our party members would help us greatly in the coming elections.”
Another district functionary said, “To provide due representation to all in booth committees, the high command has ordered us to revamp the booth committees with women’s wing and youth wing members. The idea is to train members of the wings from the grossroots in election-related works. Moreover, the party reiterated its intention to select clean candidates so as to reap the goodwill the State government currently enjoys.”
After the meeting, a few district in-charges, who are not MLAs, met Stalin, who asked them about his government’s image among women voters and urged them to explain to them such schemes as waiving off jewel loans, WSHG loans, free ride in government town buses, ration cards to single women, and 40 per cent job allocation to women candidates.
He told them that an array of welfare measures for women are in the pipeline and will be announced one by one. These, he told the district functionaries, should be taken to women beneficiaries without delay. Later, they were told by another senior minister that a few welfare schemes meant for women will be disclosed during the Governor’s address scheduled on January 5.
‘Oppn crumbling’
One of the district functionaries said, “The leadership is keen on increasing the vote base of the party at every booth as the Opposition is crumbling. The high command has instructed us to ensure that at least 30 per cent of voters in every booth become our party members”