DMK govt. has not spared even economically weaker sections, says EPS

Its major achievement is scrapping of welfare schemes meant for economically weaker sections under some pretext, the former Chief Minister says

Scrapping of welfare schemes meant for economically weaker sections under some pretext was the major achievement of the DMK government, said AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami here on Saturday.

Addressing a public meeting held to commemorate the birth anniversary of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, he said the DMK’s only achievement could be the elevation of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s son Udayanidhi as a Minister.

He said even the poorest of the poor, be if farmers or weavers, had not been spared. Poverty had increased and the fate of the working class, who depended on the MGNREGS, was pathetic, he charged.

The DMK, before coming to power, made tall promises, only to break them. The party’s 2021 Assembly election manifesto promised ₹1,000 to one woman in each family. Twenty two months had passed and the government had only announced that a survey was being done in this connection. “The manifesto also assured an increase in the working days from 100 to 150 for the MGNREGS workers. It has not been done till date,” he said.

The student community, especially those in high and higher secondary schools, received ₹12,000-worth laptops during the AIADMK rule. The horizontal reservation for government school students helped 564 students get admission to medical colleges and the AIADMK government undertook to take care of their educational expenditure, he said.

The DMK government had closed Amma clinics and discontinued free two-wheeler scheme, which benefited the womenfolk. He said the DMK government survived only because of media’s support and urged media persons to expose the rampant corruption in each department.