Chennai, February 26 The AIADMK's promise of providing Rs 10,000 in relief to families affected by economic hardship caused by the DMK regime will be more popular with the people than the Rs 5,000 offered by Chief Minister M K Stalin, who is reportedly worried about losing the upcoming elections, claimed AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami.
Palaniswami, the general secretary of the AIADMK, stated that his decision to provide a one-time ex-gratia payment to people to alleviate the hardship "imposed" by the DMK government through inflation and increased taxes, was well-received by the public, and that people were beginning to experience the problems caused by the economic hardship.
"I announced Rs 10,000 to help the people of Tamil Nadu who are facing untold economic hardship due to various tax and fee hikes by the M K Stalin regime over the past five years... My announcement has been very well received by the people. People are waiting for the elections to vote the AIADMK to power," said the former Chief Minister.
He said that the people of the state were preparing to remove the "anti-people DMK regime," while addressing meetings at the Maduravoyal and Poonthamalli Assembly constituencies on Wednesday night as part of his "Makkalai Kaapom, Tamilagathai Meetpom" (Save people, redeem Tamil Nadu) campaign.
Palaniswami alleged that Stalin had disbursed Rs 5,000 to women out of fear of losing the upcoming elections, and that he was making "baseless allegations" of an attempt to prevent the DMK ruling dispensation from disbursing a monthly grant of Rs 1,000 to women beneficiaries of a government scheme for the next three months, citing the upcoming Assembly election.
He also pointed out that Chief Minister Stalin had included a component of Rs 2,000 "summer grant" in the Rs 5,000 sum, which was directly credited into the bank accounts of women beneficiaries, as if the summer season only occurs before the Assembly election.
Referring to the Chief Minister's earlier remark at a government event that "two zeros add up to a zero" in reference to the AIADMK's performance at the election, Palaniswami said, "It seems Stalin is expressing his position."
"People will give zero to the DMK-led alliance in the upcoming election," the AIADMK chief said.