Namakkal: Lashing out at his detractors, notably the DMK leader M K Stalin, the Chief Minister, Mr. Edappadi K Palaniswami on Sunday made clear that the Tamil Nadu government ‘is no slave’ of the Central government, but was only ‘coordinating’ with New Delhi to implement development schemes for the betterment of the state.
Speaking at the huge AIADMK founder-leader MGR birth centenary celebrations, here, he said, “some portray us as a slave of the Central government, but we are not bearing ‘koojas (milk pot)’ for the centre; we are only coordinating with the Central government to implement development schemes for Tamil Nadu. We are also working for the growth of Tamil Nadu by bringing better schemes here.”
This, for the ruling AIADMK was also an opportunity to work for better economic growth of Tamil Nadu, he emphasised. The AIADMK was never really part of a Central government, he said and asked what had the DMK, as partners of the Central coalition for long years, done for Tamil Nadu. “Only the DMK's first family prospered,” Mr. Edappadi Palaniswami remarked.
Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Chief Minister, Mr. O. Pannerselvam warned the rebel leader T T V Dhinakaran and his cohorts against hurling baseless charges against the Chief Minister and himself, “now that both of us have come together on a principled stand not to let family dynastic politics gain ground in Tamil Nadu.”
Disclosing that former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa used to frequently tell him that she would never allow Dhinakaran to enter Poes garden, Mr. Pannerselvam said, what he had revealed about the 'secrets of the Sasikala family' so far was only 11 per cent. “I will continue to reveal the remaining 89 per cent in installments if they continue to provoke us,” cautioned Mr. Pannerselvam.
As part of the celebrations, minister for School Education, Sengottaiyan earlier inaugurated a marathon in Salem on Sunday. Speaking to reporters, he said, “In order to help students pursue higher education and to get job opportunities, the compiled questionnaire with 54,000 questions and answers would be released soon. In addition, steps were being taken to open 412 special coaching centres across state for students.”
