In a sharp attack on the government in Tamil Nadu, S Ramadoss, founder of PMK, a key ally of the ruling AIADMK, on Thursday accused it of not heeding to people's demands. On the other hand, he praised Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy saying the latter is fullfilling all his promises and also going beyond it in delivering welfare measures to the public.
While commending Mr Reddy in a tweet, the PMK leader, who aligned with the AIADMK ahead of last year's Lok Sabha polls, criticised the Tamil Nadu Government. He said those ruling here now are refusing to say anything about fulfilling the requests of public and even if it is pointed out to them, they are not bothered and do not fulfil them.
However, he did not specify which demands of the people were not fulfilled by the government.
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Earlier in the day, Mr Ramadoss urged the Vanniyar community to prepare themselves for a massive protest demanding separate reservation.
In a social media post, he pointed out the demand for 20% reservation for Vanniyars is a long pending demand for over 40 years and already lot of protests and sacrifices have been made.
However, Mr. Ramadoss said those who ruled the state in the past and the current government have not fulfilled the demand.
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“Time has come to again fight for our rights and this protest would be a historic one. It will make the government to request us to stop the protest and accede to our demand,” he said.
AIADMK sees attack on govt as posturing by PMK
The ruling AIADMK felt Dr. Ramadoss was resorting to posturing, ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections, by attacking the state government.
A senior AIADMK minister, preferring anonymity, said the PMK founder’s posturing was actually to improve the bargaining power of his party during the run-up the Assembly elections.
However, PMK sources said Dr Ramadoss was upset because the AIADMK government had not implemented a separate reservation for Vanniyars.
Asked would not his tweet cause strain in the relationship between the PMK and the AIADMK, sources said Dr Ramadoss was ready for any consequences as his objective was only to obtain separate reservation for Vanniyars. That was why he had given a call to the Vanniyar community to prepare themselves for a struggle to win 20 per cent reservation for them.
“Many youth who were not born when we launched the struggle for reservation wanted to participate in a similar struggle. Time has come to fulfil their wish,” he had said.
Reiterating that the struggle for a separate reservation would be historical event, Dr Ramadoss said the government would be forced to request the community to give up the struggle and invite to sign the agreement for reservation.