AIADMK’s Defeat to Begin in the Western Region: CM Stalin

Chennai: The AIADMK’s defeat in the 2026 Assembly would begin from the western region of the State, which that party’s general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami had identified as his own, because the DMK had implemented more projects and welfare schemes benefitting the people of the region more than what was done during the AIADMK rule, Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Monday.

Participating in a government function organized at Udumalpet in Tiruppur district to mark the inaugural of 61 completed projects worth Rs 949.53 crore, including a mini Tidel Park, and laying the foundation for 35 new projects, besides distributing assistance to the tune of Rs 295.29 crore to 19,785 beneficiaries, Stalin wondered how Palaniswami would start his campaign in the Western region.

While his debacle would only be a continuation of the series of routs he had faced, including the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he had started making extra noise in his ongoing campaign addressing rivals without respect and making wild allegations with the hope that people would forget his past. But to throw cold water on his false charges, the people had started appreciating the DMK’s schemes like ‘‘Ungaludan Stalin’ and ‘Nallamkakkum Stalin,’ he said.

Unable to bear the people’s response to the government schemes, the AIADMK went to the court against them but its leader C Ve Shanmugham was fined Rs 10 lakh, he said, recalling the case filed against the naming of schemes after political personalities and accused Palaniswami of being under the illusion that he was a leader like M G Ramachandran or J Jayalalithaa.

However, Palaniswami had no idea as to what his own party functionaries were talking about him on his back after his vehicle departed and that none of his conspiracies had worked paling before the achievements of the government that was implementing schemes for the growth of each and every district, Stalin said.

He said that Tiruppur district was formed during the tenure of M Karunanidhi as Chief Minister and his government had brought a slew of development schemes worth Rs 10,491 crore for the district. Blaming the AIADMK government for keeping in limbo work on the three rail over bridges and two other bridges envisaged by Karunanidhi for easing traffic congestion in Tirupur, he said work on the bridges began after the DMK returned to power.

The Chief Minister also unveiled the statues of former Chief Minister K Kamaraj who had envisaged the Parambikulam Aliyar irrigation scheme, former Union Minister C Subramaniam, former MLA V K Palaniswamy and industrialist N Mahalingam and also opened a memorial for those killed in an accident during the construction of the Parambikulam Aliyar project.