Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, who completed one year in office last month, on Friday thanked Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, Ministers and MLAs for having supported his government all through the tumultuous year and called upon them to remain united.
“We faced several challenges. We faced challenges that no other government would have faced. But all the challenges were turned into stepping stones,” Mr. Palaniswami said at a function to celebrate the completion of one year of the AIADMK government under his leadership. Listing various schemes being implemented by the AIADMK government, such as the Amma two-wheeler scheme, Mr. Palaniswami said they were announced by former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, but could not be implemented when she was alive.
Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, in his speech, referred to Opposition parties and their contentions against the ruling party and said, “We are neither worried nor bothered about the criticism from the Opposition parties. We are not afraid. They are the ones who are worried and bothered.”
Contending that there were some “eagles” circling to swallow the party, he said, “We are ready like hunters to hunt them down.”
Veiled attack
In a veiled attack on actor Rajinikanth, who had complained about the ‘system’ not functioning properly, and Makkal Needhi Maiam founder Kamal Haasan, Mr. Panneerselvam said, “Now, there are these new people. Those who don’t know about the hardships of the people are worried about the ‘system’.” And there were some who were obsessed with expressing their opinions on everything, he said, without elaborating further.
Narrating a story in which a boy tries to fool a teacher but is marked zero eventually, Mr. Panneerselvam said, “Like in the story, people would give zero to those who don't know anything about politics but only speak about politics.”
Speaker P. Dhanapallauded the government for implementing various welfare schemes and also stalling some Central government projects such as the methane project and the neutrino project. Information Minister Kadambur Raju and Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan also spoke during the event.
