Opposition leader and AIADMK co-coordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday charged that the DMK made false electoral promises in order to come to power, and said that the Justice A.K. Rajan Commission set up to study the impact of NEET was an eyewash.
Mr. Palaniswami, along with party cadre, protested in front of his residence in Salem and raised slogans condemning the State government for not fulfilling announcements made during the State Assembly elections. He told journalists that the DMK government has not made any announcements regarding fulfilling its major poll promises and demanded that the government implement them.
“The DMK claimed that as soon as M.K. Stalin assumed charge as CM, they would reduce the price of petrol per litre by ₹5, diesel price by ₹4, would provide ₹1,000 cash monthly for homemakers, waive education loans, waive loans on jewels pledged up to five sovereigns, introduce a monthly billing cycle for power tariff, and they said NEET would be cancelled in Tamil Nadu,” he recalled, and said all these promises remained unfulfilled.
Mr. Palaniswami said that during the Assembly discussion on the Governor’s address, he had asked Mr Stalin whether NEET would be held or not, but the government did not provide any clear reply. He raised the question in Assembly so that students could start preparing for the examination if it is to be held, and score high marks. He charged that the DMK government has played with students’ lives.
According to him, irregularities are taking place in the calculation of power tariff and the public are complaining of high charges. The Electricity Minister has now asked the public who are complaining of high charges to contact officials. Mr. Palaniswami said the erstwhile AIADMK government ensured that there were no power cuts and Tamil Nadu was a power-surplus State and hence, industries functioned without any issues and the government also provided round-the-clock power for farmers. The present government should take corrective measures to prevent power cuts, he said.
The former Chief Minister claimed that public was angered that the DMK did not fulfil its poll promises, and hence to divert their attention, the government is registering false cases on former ministers and AIADMK functionaries.
On the contention that the government is unable to implement some schemes due to the debt burden left behind by the previous regime, Mr. Palaniswami said that when DMK went out of power (in 2011) the debt was ₹1 lakh crore. He added that 60% of loans taken were for development work and they have become investments (for the State).
Also, the AIADMK leadrr said he would be thankful if the State government remained firm on not reintroducing the sale of lottery tickets.
On the COVID-19 front, Mr. Palaniswami said that the government is just continuing what the previous regime had done. On implementation of internal reservation for the Vanniyar community, Mr Palaniswami said that they (AIADMK government) had provided internal reservations for a majority community considering their request and demanded the State government to implement a caste-based census so that reservation could be provided for all castes based on their population.