Lok Sabha Elections 2024: All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) General Secretary and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) today (April 17) lashed out at the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that both have failed to honour the poll promises they made.
Speaking to media at his residence in Nedunchalai Nagar in Salem he condemned both parties for increasing the burden of the people. EPS said that of the 520 promises that DMK made during the 2021 Assembly elections, it had fulfilled less than ten per cent.
He charged that Chief Minister MK Stalin was blatantly lying to the people of Tamil Nadu during his election campaigns. He said that the claim of CM Stalin that he had fulfilled 98 per cent of the promises was a blatant lie.
EPS said that the people of the state were anxious about Tamil Nadu turning into a drug hub under the DMK government and added that the state government has failed to curb the drug menace. He pointed out that river water sharing, increase in the prices of essential commodities, lack of job opportunities, hikes in electricity charges and property taxes have all burdened the people.
Palaniswami criticises BJP
The AIADMK leader came out strongly against the BJP also and charged that the party failed to fulfil many of the promises it made during the 2019 Parliamentary election. He said when the BJP came to power in 2014, the price of petrol and diesel was Rs 74 and Rs 55 a litre respectively, while the price of crude oil was 105 dollars a barrel.
EPS said now the price of crude oil is 86 dollars a barrel whereas petrol and diesel are being sold for Rs 102 and Rs 94 a litre.” He added that the Central government has increased the taxes on fuel.
He came out strongly against both the DMK and the BJP on the Cauvery River issue. He said that Cauvery is the lifeline of people in 20 districts in Tamil Nadu, and condemned the DMK government for failing to get the state’s share from Karnataka. He said earlier it was the BJP government in Karnataka and now the Congress is there but both the national parties had refused to give water to TN.
EPS charged that CM Stalin has failed to even condemn Karnataka on the Mekedatu dam issue fearing that it would create problems within the I.N.D.I.A bloc. He took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for visiting the state eight times for election campaigning.
EPS said, "Not only Modi, but many Union Ministers have visited the state only for the elections. If each Union Minister had inaugurated projects during their visit, the state would have been even more developed."
Political parties alliance in Tamil Nadu
In Tamil Nadu, the BJP has aligned with a handful of regional parties, including Vanniyar caste leader S Ramadoss's PMK, former AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran's AMMK, former Congress leader GK Vasan's Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) (TMC-M), Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi (IJK), and Puthiya Neethi Katchi. The I.N.D.I.A bloc in Tamil Nadu is led by the DMK and includes the Congress, Left parties, IUML, VCK, actor-politician Kamal Haasan's MNM, Vaiko's MDMK, and the Gounder community-based KMDK.The principal opposition party in the state, AIADMK, which recently severed its ties with the BJP, has put together an alliance of minor parties, including the DMDK, Puthiya Tamilagam (PT) and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).
When will Tamil Nadu vote?
All 39 seats in Tamil Nadu will be polled in the first phase of the general elections on April 19, and the counting of votes, along with those from other phases, has been scheduled for June 4.
2019 poll results
During polling for the 2019 general elections, the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance, comprising the Congress, VCK, MDMK, CPI, CPI(M), IUML, MMK, KMDK, TVK, and AIFB, registered a landslide victory, winning 38 of the 39 seats. The Congress, which was also a part of the alliance, bagged 8 seats out of the nine contested. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on the other hand, won only one seat. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Indian National Congress candidate V Vaithilingam won the only seat in the Puducherry Parliamentary Constituency.
(With agency inputs)
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