CHENNAI: Minister for Natural Resources S Regupathy on Friday accused the BJP and AIADMK of attempting to paralyse the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai (KMUT) scheme through court cases, alleging a “political conspiracy” against the State government’s flagship welfare initiative.
He said the Chief Minister had pre-empted such moves by crediting three months’ assistance in advance to beneficiaries, ensuring the scheme’s continuity.
Regupathy claimed that the BJP and AIADMK were unable to “tolerate” the monthly Rs 1,000 assistance provided under the scheme. He further alleged that while the BJP-led Union government had waived loans worth Rs 16 lakh crore for multinational corporations over the past five years, it was showing “malice” towards Tamil Nadu’s welfare measures, including KMUT.
The Minister said that within two months, Rs 9,000 crore had been disbursed to beneficiaries under the scheme, and maintained that the Chief Minister had fulfilled poll promises even before the elections. He also asserted that no force, including the BJP and AIADMK, could prevent the formation of a “Dravidian Model 2.0” government.
Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Regupathy said the Prime Minister had criticised Tamil Nadu’s free bus travel scheme and other social welfare initiatives.
He further alleged that BJP-ruled states had introduced schemes similar to KMUT ahead of elections but reduced the number of beneficiaries after the polls. In contrast, he said, the number of beneficiaries in Tamil Nadu had increased from 1.16 crore to 1.31 crore.