Unlike DMK, no dynastic politics in AIADMK, says EPS

MADURAI: DMK is a corporate company and not a political party, AIADMK general secretary and leader of the opposition, Edappadi K Palaniswami said in Madurai on Tuesday while seeking votes for his party candidate P Saravanan, who’s contesting from Madurai.

During his morning walk along with the contestant and senior leaders of AIADMK at Mattuthavani vegetable market, Palaniswami gave away campaign pamphlets to some people and garnered support for Saravanan.

Talking to reporters, Palaniswami claimed that he’s not a leader, but a cadre of AIADMK. There’s no dynastic politics in AIADMK and after his leadership any cadre of the party could rise up and lead AIADMK. But that’s not the situation in DMK, which’s being run as a corporate company and leased by Chief Minister M K Stalin.

Responding to queries, he refuted Stalin’s claim that the AIADMK never maintained a dual stand, be it in power or not. During a decade-long AIADMK regime, several schemes were implemented for the benefit of government employees.

But during this ongoing three-year DMK regime, government employees were unhappy as even dearness allowance benefits were kept pending and released later. The DMK government failed to keep promises made for the employees of the government sector.

In the DMK’s 2021 election manifesto, Stalin promised to restore the old pension scheme, but did nothing despite a series of protests by the employees. Stalin made such promises only to lure votes from government employees, but once the election’s over, he never cared for it.

Criticizing PMK, he said the party keeps changing its alliance over every other election and has no stable policy and further Palaniswami wondered why PMK maintained alliance with the Dravidian parties while PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss claimed that there’s no virtue in maintaining alliance with the Dravidian parties.

On Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s comment eulogizing the late TN Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa during his poll campaign in the state on Monday, the jubilant EPS said ‘it was a moment of joy for us’ and added that even a political opposition endorsed good governance delivered by Jayalalithaa. Such a kind of political gesture from the BJP leader would not take away the votes of AIADMK.

Further hitting out at Stalin, EPS said his counterpart Stalin lies that 98 percent among 511 poll promises made in 2021 have been fulfilled. EPS also sounded optimistic when asked about the 2024 poll outcome, saying the AIADMK led front would win from all 39 LS seats in TN and one from Puducherry as the party gained overwhelming support from people.

Amidst a large cheering crowd of supporters in Theni, AIADMK general secretary and leader of the opposition, Edappadi K Palaniswami said victory is on the cards for AIADMK.