News Politics National Jayalalithaa promises free laptops, grinders, fans

Jayalalithaa promises free laptops, grinders, fans

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Tuesday underscored her prime ministerial aspirations with a populist Lok Sabha poll manifesto promising freebies like laptops, mixer grinders and fans as well as goats, sheep and cows

The AIADMK said it will ensure there is no divestment of shares in public sector undertakings and it will would work towards completely stopping the process of privatisation.

On foreign policy, the party said long-standing border disputes with neighbouring countries should be resolved but stressed that foreign policy "should not hurt the interests of the states in the country". "Hence, the interests of the states will be kept in mind while formulating the foreign policy," it said.

The party also promised to change the oil and gas pricing mechanism and withdraw the "authority given to oil marketing companies to determine the prices of petrol and diesel".

"Action will be taken to determine the direct two-way exchange rate between the currency of different countries and the Indian rupee, i.e. a currency swap arrangement will be put in place," it said.

"A separate fund will be established to insulate and hedge the impact of variations of exchange rate on the price of petroleum products and thereby protect the common public from adverse price shocks," the party said.