Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, whose government has been implementing a slew of welfare measures, on Wednesday said that her ultimate aim was to see that the people of Tamil Nadu would not have to depend on freebies.
“It is my desire that everyone gets everything and never want for anything. At one point time, people of Tamil Nadu will not have to depend on freebies and seek help from others,” she told the Assembly on the occasion of her government completing 100 days. “I will achieve the goal with your (alliance partners) support and the people of Tamil Nadu,” she said amidst thumping of desks by the treasury benches as well as the members of her alliance parties.
Recalling the speech of the leaders of the alliance parties that though she was driven by the desire to do more for the people of the State and an indifferent Centre was not releasing adequate funds, Ms. Jayalalithaa said her situation was akin to that of a poor mother who had ten children, but did not have adequate food to feed them all.
“The mother has only one dosa and that has placed her in an invidious situation. What is weighing on her mind is whether to give it to one child and leave others to go hungry or split the dosa and feed all the mouths. A good mother will share the dosa equally among her children though she knows well that it is not enough to fill their stomach. I am facing a similar situation. But we will achieve the goal despite all the hurdles,” she declared.
Ms. Jayalalithaa said the kudos from the alliance partners for the achievements of her government had filled her with fear rather than happiness. “I don't think you congratulated me out of tokenism. The kudos has come from the bottom of your heart and it has filled with me a fear that I have never experienced in my life. The fear that I have to live up to your expectations. It is a great challenge to outdo the achievements of the 100 days when my government completes five years in office.”
“But I strongly believe that I can do it because we are doing everything with conviction and commitment. There is absolutely no element of deception in what we are doing for the people,” she said.
In the same vein she accused the DMK government of not fulfilling its promises to people. “They gave gas stoves to a few and even those few could not get gas connection. They loudly trumpeted electricity connection to farmers. But there was no power.”
