Asking people to beware of the “DMK's sly attempt to purchase democracy,” AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa has urged them to “think and exercise the franchise according to your conscience.”
“This is the golden opportunity to eliminate anti-democracy forces and the corrupt family rule of DMK,” she told voters while addressing a series of election campaign meetings in Salem district, including Sankagiri, on Friday. She alleged that the money seized from a bus in Tiruchi recently was to bribe voters in Srirangam from where she is contesting.
Engaging the huge crowd in an interactive mode at Sankagiri, Ms. Jayalalithaa said that she alone could maintain law and order. “Can Karunanidhi do it?” she asked the gathering, which gave a resounding “no.”
“Can he [Mr. Karunanidhi] bring the cable operation under the State? Will he and his family members allow the cinema world to function independently?” she asked, stressing that she alone could do these things.
Ms. Jayalalithaa listed the welfare measures she had executed when she was Chief Minister and said schemes such as cradle baby, rainwater harvesting, free bicycles and so on had truly benefited the poor.
In her regime, people never experienced power cuts and law and order problems whereas in the five-year DMK regime, lawlessness, rowdyism, land grabbing, and sand mining had become the order of the day and its “achievements.”
Ms. Jayalalithaa alleged that the welfare schemes of the DMK government such as Kalaignar Health Insurance and rice at Re.1 a kg had benefited just the family of the DMK chief and not the people, while addressing the meeting at Sankagiri.
She claimed that the health insurance scheme was offering Rs.1 lakh each as insurance for major surgeries. But, it did not cover diseases such as typhoid, malayria, cholera, jaundice, and chikungunya. “As the coverage is not comprehensive, many private hospitals have started opting out.”
Schemes such as the Re. 1 per kg rice had benefited hoarders of the ruling party and those who indulged in large-scale smuggling of subsidised rice. “The concrete house scheme has escalated the prices of brick, cement and steel. Even the prices of these construction materials are controlled by them,” she claimed, and asked people to “understand that all these schemes are benefiting one family and not the people.”
Accusing the DMK's Sankagiri candidate and Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S. Arumugam of indulging in ‘katta panchayat,' Ms. Jayalalithaa said that if voted to power, she would help the residents of Salem Angammal Nagar colony to get justice.
She also addressed a meeting at Ayothiapattinam and other pockets before concluding the day's programme with a meeting in Salem city.
Overall improvement
Namakkal Staff Reporter writes:
Ms. Jayalalithaa asserted here on Friday that the schemes introduced during her tenure as Chief Minister focused on overall improvement of the common man's living standards.
And “my manifesto for the coming elections is similar” as it aimed at the uplift of the people in the State, she said while campaigning for the candidates of her party and allies for the six Assembly segments in Namakkal district.
