I am not a coward or afraid of raids; only the DMK is, says Palaniswami

AIADMK's Edappadi K. Palaniswami asserts bravery, criticizes DMK, and highlights party's achievements in a single speech.

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Sunday said he was not a coward or afraid of raids. It was the DMK that was afraid of raids, he added.

Mr. Palaniswami was responding to Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin’s remark that he was afraid of raids. “Mr. Udhayanidhi is a poisonous mushroom. The Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister are praising each other...,” he said at a function in Mecheri, which was held to felicitate him for implementing the 100 Lake Scheme (Cauvery surplus water scheme).

“I came to this position step by step. How many times has Mr. Udhayanidhi gone to jail for his party? He became the Deputy Chief Minister because he was born in Mr. Karunanidhi’s [late DMK leader and former Chief Minister] family. He should speak carefully. In 2011, when the DMK’s office was being raided, the party got scared and gave seats to the Congress [in the Assembly election],” he alleged.

He further said that the AIADMK did not want to ally with the BJP. The DMK, however, was trying to form an alliance with the BJP, and was already in an indirect relationship with the national party.

Mr. Palaniswami pointed out that in the AIADMK regime, 70% of the work on the 100 Lake Scheme was completed. There was a delay in completing the pending work owing to land acquisition. However, after coming to power, the DMK government did not complete the project as it was introduced by the AIADMK government. Until now, only 47 lakes have received water under the scheme, he said, adding that the remaining lakes would receive water when the AIADMK returned to power.

The DMK government was anti-farmer, he said, adding that the people would teach the party a lesson in the 2026 Assembly election.

Listing the barrages constructed during the AIADMK regime, he said that during the 2021 Assembly election, the AIADMK promised to implement the Godavari-Cauvery linking project. The Prime Minister also assured it of all help, and the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments had expressed support as well. However, after the DMK came to power, the project was put on hold.