Coimbatore: Claiming that only AIADMK has fulfilled promises made in its manifesto in the last assembly election, chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami took potshots at DMK for failing to provide two acres of land to landless poor families as promised ahead of the 2006 assembly election.
Addressing a mass wedding ceremony organized by the party at Perur Chettipalayam in the district to mark the 73rd birth anniversary of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday, the chief minister said, “The state government has provided Rs 4,217 crore to people under the marriage assistance scheme. One sovereign of gold under the ‘Thaalikku Thangam’ (gold for marriage) is being given to a couple under the scheme. So far, the government has given 6,085kg of gold under the scheme and allotted Rs 1,896 crore.”
The state government has been receiving numerous awards for its development works, he added. The mass wedding shows that AIADMK is beyond religion and caste, he said. The couples cut across all religions and caste groups.
Deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam who spoke at the function said Kongu region was the bastion of the AIADMK. The AIADMK government had brought 11 new medical colleges to the state in the past three and a half years. “But DMK-Congress alliance failed to bring any welfare schemes to Tamil Nadu when they were ruling the state between 2006 and 2011,” Panneerselvam said.
“Our welfare schemes have reached every single household in the state and all our party cadres should work hard to win in the forthcoming election,” he said.
Municipal administration minister SP Velumani said the chief minister will retain power in the state after the election. He criticized DMK leader MK Stalin for failing to bring any development for local bodies while he was the minister from 2006 to 2011.
As many as 123 couples tied knots as per their respective religious rituals. The couples were provided with 73 types of articles as ‘Seervarisai’.
AIADMK deputy co-ordinator KP Munusamy, deputy speaker of assembly Pollachi V Jayaraman, ministers KA Sengottaiyan, Dindigul C Sreenivasan, P Thangamani, KP Anbalagan, Udumalai K Radhakrishnan, MR Vijayabaskar, C Vijayabaskar were also present at the function.