Ministers’ bicycle tour sparks talk of ruling party’s plan for civic poll

Clad in T-shirts bearing pictures of former chief minister Jayalalithaa and present incumbent Edappadi K Palaniswami and deputy CM O Panneerselvam, the ministers were accompanied by party cadre, besides a host of officials. They also disbursed government welfare assistance worth Rs 11.57 crore to 4,120 beneficiaries in the last three days.  While the media persons were puzzled by the lack of formal announcement and the absence of collector KS Kandasamy at these functions, sources revealed that the events were organised by Jayalalithaa Peravai to shore up support for the AIADMK. 

It may be noted that RB Udayakumar is the state general secretary of the Peravai. 

Interestingly, Madurai (south) MLA SS Saravanan, local MLAs Doosi K Mohan (Cheyyar) and V Paneerselvam (Kalasapakkam) were also present. “We are trying to boost the spirits of the grassroots in an effort to connect with the people and win their support. This is needed especially when the opposition DMK is now resurgent with a new president,” said Kumaresan, an AIADMK cadre from Cheyyar.

Minister Ramachandran went all out to draw people’s attention by participating in a storm water drain work at Nadukuppam village in Thellar panchayat union in addition to planting 100 saplings. He also inaugurated a newly-upgraded government higher secondary school, distributed sweets to students and planted saplings at Palli village in Cheyyar panchayat union. 

This apart, the government also set up control rooms in the Vellore and Tiruvannamalai collectorates for public to complain about the development works that is pending or delayed in their village panchayats. 

Village panchayats are important as residents have four votes each (1 each for the panchayat ward member and president, one for the PU ward member and one for the district panchayat member).