MADURAI
A humble wish that girl students and youngsters should voluntarily come forward and join the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in a big way by Minister for Cooperation Sellur K. Raju went viral here on Saturday.
However, his remark was apparently given a different meaning that Sasikala would soon be at the helm of affairs.
The Jayalalithaa Peravai here had planned to conduct a cycle rally, involving about 3,000 women, including college students, marking the centenary celebrations of the party founder late M.G. Ramachandran on October 16. In this connection, a training camp for the participants is under way.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Raju said that the AIADMK was a democratic party and that Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s rise was an example. Anybody can join the AIADMK and climb the ladder. In the present day, women excelled men in many fields that someone from here may even lead the party (AIADMK) tomorrow, he noted amidst applause from the gathering.
Forest Minister Dindigul C. Srinivasan said that the State was on the forefront in at least 15 sectors. When such was the reality, the Opposition parties, with the intention to defame the AIADMK, spread all sorts of negative remarks against the government. Actually, in the DMK, after M. Karunanidhi, his elder son M.K. Alagiri should have become the president, but the younger son M.K. Stalin took the reins. In a bid to hide their intra-party fights, the DMK, in a bid to mislead the people, came out with all kinds of baseless allegations against the AIADMK, he said.
Revenue Minister R.B. Udayakumar said that whenever by-election was held for Tiruparankundram Assembly, the AIADMK won hands-down and it would never be cowed down by threats from fringe outfits.
The AIADMK, he said, was an organisation, which had its roots in Tamil Nadu for the last 40 years. The people were aware of the welfare programmes and the party had no corruption charges unlike the DMK, he said.