AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Monday alleged that the five-year DMK rule under Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had ruined Tamil Nadu and turned people into debtors.
The DMK government had failed to understand the hardship faced by the people at the grassroots level, Mr. Palaniswami said and cited the steep increase in the prices of essential items, including rice and edible oil, in the last five years. The people of the State had been burdened because of the rise in power tariff and taxes imposed on them.
Campaigning in Perambalur for the party candidates as well as the nominees of its allies contesting in the Assembly seats in Perambalur and Ariyalur districts, Mr. Palaniswami said Mr. Stalin had been repeatedly saying that Tamil Nadu was in the forefront of development. But the State had only emerged on top in the country in corruption and in obtaining loans to the tune of ₹5 lakh crore in the last five years and making people debtors, he charged.
Claiming that Mr. Stalin had been engaging in a slander campaign against the AIADMK, Mr. Palaniswami said the Chief Minister should control his tongue else the AIADMK cadre would give a befitting reply.
The DMK was a “dictatorial” party unlike the AIADMK which was “democratic,” Mr. Palaniswami claimed and wondered can anyone other than a member of the first family of the DMK become the leader of the party.
