The DMK’s manifesto is a “people’s manifesto,” drafted by the people and for the people, DMK MP K. Kanimozhi said here at the party’s women’s wing consultation meeting on Tuesday.
Addressing party workers from Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts, Ms. Kanimozhi said the manifesto was drafted after a tour of each district and after hearing out the demands in every constituency. Taking a swipe at AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa’s assurance that prohibition would be rolled out in a phased manner, she wondered how someone who cracked down on anti-liquor protests during her tenure would do so. Responding to Ms. Jayalalithaa’s allegations that the DMK was responsible for the surge in liquor sale and consumption, the DMK MP said it was the government takeover of the liquor trade in 2003 under the AIADMK regime that had led to proliferation of liquor outlets.
“Jayalalithaa first created the liquor industry that forced people into alcoholism,” she alleged.
Hearing out heart-rending tales of women, Ms. Kanimozhi said they were willing to turn in all the freebies for an assurance that their husbands would return home sober, when the day ended.
The State had the highest number of young women widowed by the problem of chronic alcoholism among men, Ms. Kanimozhi said.
Urging women cadre to root out the AIADMK, Ms. Kanimozhi also goaded them to defeat caste outfits in the elections.
