DMK dismisses EPS’ accusations on projects as 'gibberish'

CHENNAI: The ruling DMK on Saturday mocked at AIADMK leader K Palaniswami for claiming that no major projects were initiated by the Tamil Nadu government and listed implementation of a slew of new welfare schemes including the breakfast plan for government school students.

Dismissing Palaniswami's refrain as "generic gibberish", the ruling party organ 'Murasoli' listed the new schemes. Palaniswami had said that no major projects were launched by the DMK government and only those initiated during the AIADMK regime were being inaugurated.

Pointing to Chief Minister M K Stalin's assertion that 60 per cent of DMK's 2021 Assembly election promises have been fulfilled, the daily asked if the breakfast scheme for government school children from classes 1 to 5 was devised by Palaniswami.

Under the fare-free travel plan for women in state-run town buses, 39.21 lakh women travel every day. "Did Palaniswami plan this scheme?" the newspaper asked.

Making fun of the AIADMK leader for maintaining that he is a farmer and for using the green turban worn by ryots, the DMK newspaper asked if the former chief minister came up with a separate budget for farmers. However, it is the DMK regime which has implemented it, the daily said.

Listing out several other projects and schemes including the 'Naan Mudhalvan' and proposals like setting up a separate sporting arena to conduct popular bull-taming sport, 'Jallikattu', the DMK mouthpiece asked if all these were Palaniswami regime's initiatives. Naan Mudhalvan, which could be roughly translated as 'I am the first', is a broad-based skill development and employability facilitation scheme to empower young people.

Citing setting up of a Commissions of Inquiry during the AIADMK regime like the panel that went into the circumstances that surrounded the death of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa, the DMK daily said such panels have submitted their reports to the government. Taunting Palaniswami, Murasoli asked whether the Leader of Opposition had this aspect in mind while commenting that the DMK government was only following what was initiated during the AIADMK regime.

Palaniswami had time and again accused the ruling DMK of not launching any major projects on its own after it came to power in 2021. He had claimed that the DMK regime was only inaugurating works initiated by the AIADMK government.