Except for corruption and intervention by some of the family members of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in the administration, nothing else had moved forward in Tamil Nadu in the last 14 months as claimed by DMK Ministers, said Leader of the Opposition and AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami here on Monday.
Earlier, the former Chief Minister participated in a special puja performed at Sri Dhandayuthapani Swami Temple here at 7.15 a.m. He was accompanied by senior AIADMK leaders Natham R. Viswanathan, Dindigul C. Srinivasan and other functionaries.
On Sunday night, the AIADMK had organised a public meeting here, in which Mr. Palaniswami said only the DMK’s first family seemed to have benefited over the last one year. “We have watched what happened to the family rule in Sri Lanka. People may not hesitate to pack off such rulers,” he said.
Already, 14 ammavasais had gone and another 46 had to go for the next general election in Tamil Nadu in 2026. However, the general public had suddenly raised doubts of early election to the Legislative Assembly and had been curious to know if it would be advanced to 2024, he said, adding, “We have to wait and see.”
Mr. Palaniswami said when rain severely affected normal life in many districts, the State government should have deputed Ministers to oversee rescue operations. Even after media reported the heavy rainfall and the aftermath in many districts, the Chief Minister had not sent his Cabinet colleagues to the worst-hit areas. This was quite surprising, he said.
He said even though the AIADMK was not in power, it deputed two former Ministers — Thangamani and K.C. Karuppanan — to the rain-affected districts and extended help to the needy people.
At a time when people were forced to spend more on essential goods after the government failed to control price rise, there were reports of corruption in many departments, and the Chief Minister should curb it with an iron hand, he stressed.
