‘CM has turned State into a kitten before Centre’

People will drive out this govt.: Stalin

DMK president M.K. Stalin on Sunday accused Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami of turning a “majestic State” like Tamil Nadu into a “kitten before the BJP government (at the Centre).”

Addressing a virtual meeting of party cadre in Erode, as part of his Tamizhagam Meetpom (Retrieve Tamil Nadu) campaign, he said the time had come to put an end to the humiliation of the State, and stop being servile to the Centre. “That is why I call the [2021] Assembly election not an instrument for change, but a war,” he said.

According to him, the ruling AIADMK was facing a leadership conflict and Mr. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam would have to give up their roles in May 2021, and leave Fort St. George.

“They will be chased away by the people after the election in May,” he said, charging that the nearly 10 years of AIADMK rule had pushed the State to the bottom. Mr. Stalin said the State government and the AIADMK were functioning like two different entities and they would break anytime like brittle glass.

“We witnessed the drama staged by Mr. Palaniswami and Mr. Panneerselvam to occupy their seats in the last four years. The policy of the government is to loot, and Tamil Nadu has registered negative growth in all fields,” he said.

He said the State had moved to the 14th position in ease-of-doing business rankings in the country, as per a list released by the Union Commerce and Industry Minister in September. “The government is lying that they have attracted more investments and provided job opportunities,” he said.

Mr. Stalin said the Centre might appreciate the AIADMK government, but not others. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tamil Nadu had controlled COVID-19. We do not know whether the Prime Minister is still in the country orhas been living secretly somewhere else,” he quipped.

The DMK leader said as many as 11,000 people had died of COVID-19 and over seven lakh people were infected by the virus.

Adverting to the Paul Harris Fellowship conferred on Mr. Palaniswami, Mr. Stalin said as many as 10 lakh people had received the award till 2016, and anyone who was ready to pay ₹75,410 could get the award.

On reservation

Mr. Stalin, in a separate statement, also urged the Centre to withdraw its stand in the Madras High Court that it was not in favour of 50% reservation for government doctors in postgraduate medical courses.

Even though the Supreme Court had clearly ruled that the State government had the rights to implement compartmental reservation, the AIADMK government was not able to do it for fear of the BJP government, he said. Pointing out that the reservation policy was followed before 2016, Mr. Stalin said denying government doctors a place in postgraduate courses was against social justice.

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