CHENNAI: DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday alleged the previous AIADMK government headed by Edappadi K Palaniswami used Covid-19 to indulge in corruption, while the DMK, as an opposition party, ran a parallel government to help people.
Addressing a campaign rally in Chengalpattu district, he said his party distributed 76 lakh food packets, over 50 lakh masks, and assisted more than 1 crore people through its ‘Ondrinaivom’ helpline.
Responding to Palaniswami’s remarks that Stalin may have “gone” if the pandemic happened when DMK was in power, Stalin said while death was inevitable for all, no one will have the courage to bury the welfare measures he has implemented.
Congress leader and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who also addressed the gathering, made it clear that the Congress stands firmly with Stalin, dismissing claims of some in the party supporting another party.
“I have not come here as deputy CM — I have come on behalf of Kharge ji and Rahul ji to tell you that the entire Indian National Congress stands united under the leadership of MK Stalin,” Shivakumar said.
Meanwhile, Stalin also criticised the union government over its proposed delimitation exercise, calling it a politically calculated move designed to concentrate power in northern states at the expense of south India.
In a post on X, Stalin said the NDA government was “systematically eroding the very foundations of Parliament” and reducing it to “a hollow ritual”. Calling the proposal to increase seats as a direct contradiction of the ruling party’s own slogan of minimum government, maximum governance, he warned it would inflate expenditure and burden taxpayers.
“This is nothing short of penalising states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Telangana for their success in population control,” he said.
On women’s reservation, Stalin said his party’s support for 33% reservation is unconditional, but insisted it must be implemented within the existing proportion of seats.