CHENNAI: The ruling DMK on Wednesday reacted strongly to the criticism levelled by Leader of Opposition and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami that Chief Minister MK Stalin was indulging in “publicity stunts” by receiving grievance petitions directly from the public keeping the 2026 election in mind.
In a statement, the DMK said Palaniswami had no moral right to question the government’s grievance redressal mechanisms, given the AIADMK regime’s own failure in addressing public complaints during its tenure.
Earlier, EPS had remarked that people of Tamil Nadu cannot be hoodwinked by such acts. He also alleged that when Stalin was the Leader of Opposition, he collected thousands of petitions from the public, but never disclosed how many of them were resolved after the DMK came to power. He blamed the government of launching grievance redressal schemes under different names while failing to resolve the actual issues faced by the people.
Responding to the charges, Finance Minister and senior DMK leader Thangam Thennarasu accused the AIADMK of seeking publicity during its regime by launching ineffective grievance redressal initiatives.
He pointed out that Palaniswami had rebranded the ‘Amma Call Centre’ in 2021 to promote himself, even though the scheme had received lukewarm response since its original launch in 2016 by former CM J Jayalalithaa.
Thennarasu said one of the flagship grievance redressal scheme, Makkaludan Mudhalvar, is being rolled out in three phases. Nearly 24 lakh petitions were received and addressed during the first two phases through 4,402 special camps, he said, adding that the third phase is currently under way.
He also highlighted the success of the Ungal Thoguthiyil Mudhalamaichar, under which 1,251 project are under implementation at a cost of Rs 14,442 crore.