EPS & Annamalai urge Tamil Nadu govt to include sugarcane in Pongal gift

CHENNAI: Condemning the DMK government for failing to add sugarcane as part of the Pongal gift hamper to family cardholders, Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday said Chief Minister MK Stalin should include one full sugarcane for each cardholder and announce that Rs 5,000 in cash would be given to them.

He recalled that Stalin, as Leader of the Opposition, had demanded payment of Rs 5,000 to cardholders during the AIADMK regime. In a statement here, Palaniswami said farmers had grown sugarcane on large swathes of land expecting that the government would procure it during Pongal. Meanwhile, criticising the DMK government’s decision not to include sugarcane in the Pongal gift, BJP state president K Annamalai urged the government to provide one full sugarcane and one kg of palm jaggery along with the Pongal gift.

PMK, AMMK decry decision

The PMK and the AMMK urged the state government to procure sugarcane from farmers and provide it to PDS cardholders along with the Pongal gift hamper. PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss on Friday tweeted his disappointment over sugarcane’s exclusion from the gift hamper.

He said since sugarcane has been a part of the hamper for the past few years, farmers have been cultivating it with the hope that the government would procure the produce. He further urged the government to procure sugarcane at `35 per piece. AMMK general secretary TTV Dhinakaran also condemned TN government for excluding sugarcane from the gift hamper.