Addressing party cadre at Sattur in Virudhunagar district on Sunday, the Chief Minister hoped for a win in the appeal in the case of ban on cracker manufacturing with barium nitrate in the Supreme Court.

Saying that nobody could destroy the AIADMK, which has got a strong cadre base, he garnered votes for the AIADMK for the next Lok Sabha polls, which might come in line with the Assembly by-election simultaneously.

 

Tamil Nadu is in the forefront of industrial sector and with the second phase of Global Investors Meet (GIM) scheduled on January 23 and 24 in Chennai, he said it would attract a whopping Rs 3 lakh crore of foreign direct investments.

Earlier, the Chief Minister was accorded a warm welcome by Minister for Dairy Development KT Rajendra Balaji. Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management RB Udhayakumar and Minister for Information and Publicity Kadambur C Raju accompanied him.

Subsequently, he addressed the cadre at Kovilpatti, where he sought votes for his party symbol ‘Two leaves’ for candidates to be fielded from Vilathikulam and Ottapidaram constituencies, which remain vacant in Thoothukudi district. “The MLAs, who parted ways with the AIADMK and joined hands with TTV Dhinakaran-led AMMK, have been left stranded on streets, now. 

The AIADMK, which was founded by the late MG Ramachandran and under the efficient administration of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa, is aware of problems faced by common people, farmers and farm labourers and providing all possible solutions to fix it through welfare schemes,” he said.

 

Referring to the recent Pongal gift, which includes a sum of Rs 1,000 to every family card holder, offered by the state government, he said all households joyously celebrated the Pongal festival. But, the DMK tried to stop providing such gifts to people through court, but the ruling AIADMK overcame such obstacle after winning a legal battle for the welfare of people.

The DMK counted days anticipating to topple the AIADMK led government, but despite all the moves, the AIADMK had successfully completed two years in its regime now.

Taking pride, Palaniswami claimed himself as an ‘ordinary person’ hailing from agriculture community, said he contested on several occasions for the AIADMK and won. Unlike AIADMK, which is a democratic party, thinks about people and takes care of their needs, DMK was only concerned about family politics, which regarded it as hereditary.

 

Further, he said any cadre, who is loyal to the AIADMK, could get a high level post since the party accords respect to each and every cadre, he said. In Tirunelveli, at a programme where scores of cadre from DMDK, Congress and AMMK joined the AIADMK, the Chief Minister said that his party is like a big tree, which gives shade to whoever comes to join the party.

 

“Unable to digest the growth of the AIADMK, which lifted the status of Tamil Nadu as the best state in India and emerging as a land of peace, the DMK is leveling baseless charges against the government,” he said.

 

Later, the Chief Minister addressed the cadre at a programme to celebrate the birth anniversary of MGR. The Special Representative of TN Government in New Delhi, Thalavai Sundaram, Minister for Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare, VM Rajalakshmi and others were present.

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, while addressing cadre in Tirunelveli on Sunday evening said DMK president MK Stalin could never become a Chief Minister.

Showing pictures of Stalin as former Mayor of Chennai Corporation and other politicians with goons and hired killers at the stage, the Chief Minister said it was a clear evidence of the DMK’s nexus with criminals, who were even taken out on bail by the DMK.

He also alleged that the DMK backed Sayan and Manoj to commit the crimes in Kodanad. Palaniswami doubted whether the DMK was conspiring along with these criminals to wrongfully punish him. However, he said the guilty would be punished at any cost and the government would not take the Kodanad issue lightly.