TIRUCHY: Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi on Saturday questioned why actor-politician Vijay, while campaigning in Tiruchy, did not raise the Union government’s non-release of Rs 2,151 crore in education funds under the Samagra Shiksha Scheme. The delay, he said, affects lakhs of students and thousands of teachers across the state.
The minister was addressing reporters at the DMK’s Tiruchy South district office to brief them about the next phase of Oraniyil Tamil Nadu. During the interaction, he also hit back at Vijay for accusing him and Municipal Administration Minister K.N. Nehru of failing Tiruchy’s development.
"If he wants to criticise, he must say what we have done and what we have not. General comments won’t be accepted by the discerning people of Tiruchy," Mahesh said, listing projects such as a Rs 408 crore bus terminus at Panchapur, Rs 400 crore IT park, Anna heavy vehicle terminal, Periyar vegetable market, new colleges, libraries, model schools, and a jallikattu arena at Suriyur and Olympic training academy. He also pointed to schemes like the CM breakfast programme that feeds 69,000 students daily in the district, Naan Mudhalvan which has trained 68,000 youth, and Kalaignar Women’s Rights scheme reaching 4.42 lakh families.
Claiming Tiruchy was evolving into Tamil Nadu’s "second capital," Mahesh said, “We have done as much as possible in the past four-and-a-half years and still want to do more." On his other allegations of not filling vacant post and not implementing old pension scheme he said CM will soon decide on it.
On Vijay’s large rally, the minister said, "Vijay lacks planning. Even his mic went off mid-speech," he quipped.
The turnout was typical of a new party, but it was alleged that some supporters damaged public property, including school facilities. Dismissing Vijay’s remark that DMK was "poison," Mahesh countered that leaders should instead speak on national concerns like stalled student welfare schemes.
