The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) treasurer M.K. Stalin said that the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had a tacit understanding as they were not critical of one another. Plus, Jayalalithaa had attended Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony and the latter had reciprocated the same.
Speaking at a meeting in Udumalpet on Sunday, to campaign for the party’s nominee for the Lok Sabha polls, he said though there were power cuts, the Administration was not ready to evacuate the power generated from windmills in the region. But the Government was buying power from Andhra Pradesh at a higher cost. This showed that something was not right about the power purchase.
Mr. Stalin, at an earlier meeting, listed the DMK’s achievements including in water supply and other schemes while seeking support for the party’s nominee for Pollachi Parliamentary constituency, Pongalur N. Palanisamy.
Mr. Stalin was emphasising more on local issues, besides the achievements of the DMK during its previous tenure, even while listing the failures of the present AIADMK regime.
Starting his campaign in Thondamuthur, Mr. Stalin said that unlike leaders who fly to meet the voters and that too only during elections, he had come seeking votes for the DMK which always stood by people during their good and bad times.
The DMK when it was in power between 2006 and 2011, had built a few bridges in the Thondamuthur Assembly constituency, upgraded primary schools to middle schools and middle schools to high schools, he pointed out. And at Madhvarayapuram and two other places, the DMK government had upgraded high schools to higher secondary schools.
But there was no such achievement during the present tenure of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. Many farmers were yet to get drought relief.
On the power supply front, things had only worsened in that the power cuts have increased from two hours, which was the case when the DMK demitted office, to eight to 12 hours in a day now.
Mr. Stalin asked the people that if voting out the DMK was the punishment for the two-hour power cuts, what punishment should they give to the AIADMK government for increased duration.
In Selvapuram, he told the gathering that besides power cuts, prices of essential commodities, construction materials, bus fare, milk and other things had increased so drastically. He read out the comparative prices of various commodities in 2011 (when DMK demitted office) and 2014.
In Kuniamuthur, where Muslims had gathered in large numbers, Mr. Stalin reminded the voters that it was Mr. Karunanidhi who had brought in 3.5 per cent reservation for members of the minority community and sought votes for a stable, secular government in New Delhi.
