TENKASI/TIRUNELVELI: Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has asked Opposition leader and DMK President MK Stalin to explain the status of the petitions that he collected from the people during the time of Parliamentary elections in 2019.
Palaniswami, who visited Alangulam, Pavoorchatram and Tenkasi as part of the Assembly election campaign said that the Opposition leader thinks about the people only during the elections. “He did not resolve any grievances of the people while he was the deputy chief minister. Suddenly, he woke up at the age of 70 and started collecting petitions from the public.
I want Stalin to explain about the petitions that he received during the parliamentary election campaign. Now he is collecting the petitions again and there will be no action,” he said. The Chief Minister said that the public need not submit petitions to Stalin, instead, they could contact the helpline number that was recently launched by him. “The government received over 9 lakh petitions so far and 5 lakh petitions have been disposed of,” he said.
Stating that he is facing the Assembly election for the first time as chief minister, Palaniswami said that the Information Technology wing of the party should bring the welfare schemes of the AIADMK government to the masses and respond to the criticism of the opposition parties. He urged the party functionaries to work together for the victory of the party.
Earlier, while addressing the election campaign in Valliyur in Tirunelveli district, the Chief Minister alleged that DMK was functioning as a corporate company with Stalin as its head and MP MK Kanimozhi as among the board of directors. Addressing a gathering, Palaniswami accused DMK of distracting the people by giving false promises.
“In AIADMK, any cadre who works hard could become chief minister. The AIADMK party functions as a democratic party. MK Stalin’s son Udayanidhi Stalin’s age is equalant to my years of experience,” he said, adding that for the public, DMK is an allergy.B He pointed out that the AIADMK government brought to the State many laurels including those for maintaining law and order, overall performance and education.
“While DMK was in power in 2006, former DMK leader Karunanidhi had assured to provide 2 acres each to farmers who have no land. “However, the farmers did not receive it. It’s the AIADMK government that waived off the loans of farmers and introduced many schemes for them,” he said.
After the campaign at Valliyur, the Chief Minister presided over a meeting with the women wing members in Kalakkad. During the meeting, he recalled an incident that happened in the Assembly in 1989 when the loose end of former chief minister Jayalalithaa’s saree was pulled out by DMK partymen to reinforce his point that when DMK was in power there was no security for women.
‘Over 9 lakh petitions received on helpline so far’
The Chief Minister said that the public need not have to submit their petitions to DMK chief MK Stalin. Instead, they could contact the helpline number that was recently launched by the State government, he said. “The government received over 9 lakh petitions so far and 5 lakh petitions have been disposed of,” said Palaniswami
CM grants solatium to kin of 36 fire service personnel
Chennai: Expressing grief over the death of 36 fire and rescue service personnel, due to illness and in accidents, in the recent past, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday granted financial assistance of Rs 3 lakh each to the bereaved families from the CM’s Public Relief Fund. He also conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families.