Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Sunday slammed leader of opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami wondering whether welfare schemes could be named after him alleging he crawled like a cockroach for the sake of office. Referring to Palaniswami’s allegation that fund allocation was being made by the government for schemes named after late Chief Minister M Karunanidhi that are not useful for the people, Stalin said the AIADMK chief’s remark was a bundle of lies.
Listing out a string of schemes including the Kalaignar centenary library, Kalaignar jallikattu arena, a hospital in Chennai and the Rs 1,000 financial assistance scheme for women, all of which features the late DMK chief Karunanidhi’s name, Stalin demanded to know which of such initiatives were not useful for the people.
The CM said such remarks of Palaniswami smacked of arrogance and for this aspect alone, people of Tamil Nadu will defeat the AIADMK and that was sure.
Karunanidhi slogged for the Tamil people for 80 years, and it would only be appropriate to name the welfare schemes after such a leader who dedicated his life for the people and the state.
“Could the schemes be named after you? (Palaniswami) you crawled like a cockroach for the sake of office. Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) is a name that is etched in the hearts of Tamils and it is an unavoidable identity of Tamil Nadu’s history,” he said adding he was proud to have implemented welfare schemes named after Karunanidhi.
The accusation that Palaniswami ‘crawled’ for the sake of power and office is an oft-repeated allegation of the ruling DMK. It has reference to Palaniswami prostrating in front of former interim AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala following the death of party supremo J Jayalalithaa in December 2016.
The Chief Minister, in a state event here, inaugurated the new Virudhunagar district collectorate built at an estimated cost of Rs 77.12 crore. Also, he inaugurated several other schemes worth Rs 21.36 crore and gave away welfare assistance to beneficiaries. Such welfare assistance is totally worth Rs 417.21 crore, marking distribution to a total of 57,556 beneficiaries.
Free house pattas and credit facility to Women Self Help Groups were some of the schemes covered under the assistance.
