Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami will resume his election campaign in Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli districts for three days from February 17.
During informal interaction with the reporters here on Tuesday, Minister for Information Kadambur C. Raju, after participating in the inauguration of additional building in Tiruchendur Government Hospital, said the Chief Minister, who had already visited around 20 districts during his first phase of electioneering, had to cut short his election campaign when he visited Thoothukudi district on January 3 last as he had to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Justice of Madras High Court on January 4.
He is coming to the district on February 17 to resume the election campaign in Thoothukudi, Ottapidaaram, Srivaikundam and Tiruchendur Assembly segments. Mr. Palaniswami will be electioneering in Tirunelveli and Tenkasi districts on February 18 and 19.
“The Chief Minister, who will be completing the fourth year in office on February 16, has scaled unprecedented heights to bag several awards from the Union Government for having stood first in entire country. He has made Tamil Nadu numero uno. People are overwhelmingly backing the AIADMK rule,” Mr. Raju said.
On DMK president M.K. Stalin’s assertion that their party would return to power after winning over 200 seats in the ensuing Assembly polls, he said the Opposition Leader, who had anticipated split in the AIADMK after the demise of Jayalalithaa in December 2016, was predicting the DMK’s return to power in the same month by engineering defections. Mr. Stalin’s anticipation and prediction continued even as the AIADMK rule was going on steadily with the people’s backing, who had ensured the continuation of “Amma’s rule” by supporting the ruling party in 9 Assembly constituencies in the by-polls held in 2019.
“Any political party having the people’s support alone can come to power and the party, which tries to fish in muddy water by engineering split among their political opponents, can never come to power. We trust the people, who always pin their hope on AIADMK. We’ll defend our rule comfortably this time also with Mr. Palaniswami leading from the front,” Mr. Raju hoped.
The minister criticized Mr. Stalin’s claim that the crop loans given by cooperative societies had been waived by the Tamil Nadu Government only after his party had given it as poll promise. “He is talking out of frustration,” Mr. Raju noted.
Collector K. Senthil Raj, Superintendent of Police S. Jayakumar, Srivaikundam MLA S.P. Shanmuganathan were present.
