Opposition leader M.K. Stalin on Friday said the AIADMK government led by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami had no moral right to celebrate the completion of one year in power.
“It is wasting the taxpayers’ money on advertisements, which proves that the government has lost its credibility,” Mr. Stalin told mediapersons at the Chennai airport, before leaving for Erode to participate in a two-day regional conference of the DMK.
The DMK leader dismissed as an “utter lie” the allegation that the local bodies were unable to spend ₹1,950 crore as a result of the case filed by the DMK in court with regard to the civic polls. “A case should be filed against the Minister [who made the allegation] for telling such a lie. The DMK went to the court to explain how the State government had made use of the State Election Commission to indulge in irregularities. We are for a free and fair election. The government is not at all interested in conducting local body polls, and to cover up its fault, it is blaming the DMK. The funds allotted by the Centre could not be utilised because of the State government’s failure,” he alleged.
When asked about the plan announced by Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari to link the Cauvery and the Godavari rivers, he said the Centre should first keep in mind the six-week deadline for constituting the Cauvery Management Board.
Recalling his speech in the Assembly on the need to bring pressure to bear on the Centre over the issue, Mr. Stalin said it was Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam who wanted to wait till March 29, when the deadline ends. “The AIADMK government has surrendered before the Centre and I have a feeling that Tamil Nadu is unlikely to get justice in the Cauvery water dispute,” he said.
When asked about the party conference, he said though it was a regional conference, it would be conducted like a State-level event. Party patriarch M. Karunanidhi won’t be attending the event on account of his poor health, he added.
