TIRUPUR: Asserting that it was he who laid the foundation stone for Avinashi-Athikadavu water project, chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said he would be back as CM with people’s support and inaugurate the scheme once completed.
Addressing an election rally in Tirupur on Thursday, the CM recalled the long history of struggle for the project. EPS said though it was fully funded by the state government, AIADMK took it up for the welfare of the farmers as announced by late chief minister J Jayalalithaa in the run up to the 2016 assembly election.
He said it was AIADMK which has consistently chalked out schemes for the welfare of farmers. Alleging that DMK president M K Stalin was getting restless because of AIADMK’s announcement of farm loan waiver, EPS said the DMK had launched a false propaganda that the promise would not be kept.
“Stalin says AIADMK would not implement the poll promise of farm loan waiver. A government order would be issued soon and receipt for farm loan waiver would be issued in 10 days,” he said. AIADMK has a history of fulfilling election promises in 2006 and 2011, whereas DMK has never kept promises, he said.
Choosing to be silent about V K Sasikala and her nephew T T V Dhinakaran, EPS continued to train his guns on Stalin accusing him of dynastic politics and duping the public with ‘unfeasible’ assurance. “He has never addressed public grievances during his stint as MLA, minister and deputy chief minister. Now he is collecting petitions promising to sort out those complaints in 100 days. How can he sort out all those complaints in 100 days?’’ he asked.
In Tirupur district, which has a mix of agriculture, industry, weaving and sizeable Muslims in few pockets, EPS listed out contributions of AIADMK for farmers, the industries brought in by his government, promised 10,000 free houses for weavers and assured the minority community not to be apprehensive about AIADMK because it has allied with BJP.
He said Muslims need not worry because of the alliance and added that the AIADMK would not give up its policy of minority welfare. “Each party will have a policy. We will not give up the policy because of political alliance. AIADMK is for people’s welfare and is beyond caste, creed and religion. No one needs to worry that they will suffer because of our alliance,” he told a gathering of Jamaath representatives at a wedding hall on Kangeyam Road and sought their support in the election.