ULUNDURPET: “What happened to all the petitions you collected during the 2019 Lok Sabha campaign,” Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami asked DMK leader MK Stalin on Monday. Palaniswami was speaking at a meeting organised by the AIADMK student wing to mark the anti-Hindi protest on Martyrs Day.
“Many people sacrificed their lives for Tamil language during the protests against Hindi imposition. Today, we are paying homage to those martyrs. Because of our government’s efforts, the removal of Tamil from postal department recruitment exams was reverted. Our government has ensured that Tamil enjoys prominence in all fields, and efforts are underway to establish a museum on ancient Tamil culture in Sivaganga,” he said.
Referring to the DMK’s plan to collect petitions during campaign meetings, the CM said, “Stalin will not be able to cheat people again. He had already collected petitions during the 2019 polls; what happened to those petitions? What did you do with them? If only he had submitted those petitions to our government, we would have fulfilled them.”
Pointing out that the government had organised Special Grievance Meetings, he said, “Village officials had collected over nine lakh petitions, and we have resolved almost six lakh demands. This government has taken steps to enhance functions of the Chief Minister’s Petition Centre and also planned to introduce various modes of communication, including the launch of a toll free number. We had plans to launch the number during February first week. But it was somehow leaked to Stalin, prompting him to announce a similar measure on Monday.”
Recalling the 2G scam that rocked the previous DMK government, the CM added, “About 13 DMK ministers are facing cases related to the scam. The crime rate during the DMK rule was massive, and that is the main reason why they have been kept out of power for the last 10 years.”