Jaya assails family rule' in veiled attack on DMK; says AIADMK democratic

Chennai: In a scathing attack on the DMK without naming it, AIADMK general secretary and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Thursday said family rule is anathema to democracy and asserted that her party stood for democratic ideals.

Exhorting her party cadres to propagate welfare schemes implemented by the AIADMK regime, she said, "This election is to save Tamil Nadu from the evil force hankering to have power only for the family."

In a motivational letter to her party workers, she said the poll was to ensure continuity of the "revolutionary" journey of AIADMK, which "shares power with poor, ordinary people and working classes."

"Family rule is out and out against democracy. Having the reins of governance, power and political influence within one family will shatter the idea of equal opportunity to all, which is the basic concept of democracy," she said in an apparent reference to DMK without explicitly naming it.

"Explain the welfare schemes of your sister to the people," she appealed, listing out schemes like free mixers, grinders, 20 kilos of free rice in PDS shops and low-cost food in Amma canteens.

She said: "To ensure continuation of such schemes and for the growth of democratic qualities of equal opportunities, we should bag victory after victory."

The cadres should work with the resolve of "party is bigger than the individual and the victory of the party is our victory."

She urged them to work with full energy, assuming that "your dear sister is contesting in all the 234 constituencies of the state.