Tamil Nadu CM rubbishes MK Stalin's charges on horse trading

TIRUCHY: Rubbishing Opposition DMK leader M K Stalin's criticisms against the ruling AIADMK of indulging in 'horse trading' as baseless, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr. Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday sought to turn the tables against the former, wondering which government Mr. Stalin had in mind when hurling such charges.  

“We do not know about which government he (Mr. Stalin) was referring to, but once the judgment in a case due shortly comes out, people will know which government indulged in horse-trading,” shot back Palaniswami without referring to any specific case, but hinting at DMK's own vulnerability in the issue. 

Mr. Palaniswami, who made these remarks while addressing the MGR birth centenary celebrations in Tiruchy, devoted a good part of his speech to the dengue issue rocking the State, but asserted that timely efforts by his government had brought the surge in dengue fevers under control. He said such fevers were common during the monsoon season, but added the government had not failed in its duty to contain the spread.  

Adverting to Mr. Stalin dubbing his government as ‘dengue government’, Mr. Palaniswami tauntingly said he left its semantics to the Opposition leader as, “he only has that much of knowledge.” Instead of criticising the government, Mr. Stalin could share his suggestions to control the disease which would be far more appreciable, said the Chef Minister and again renewed his appeal to the people to cooperate with the State's intensified efforts to neutralize the dengue threat.  

Recalling the achievements of the two former Chief Ministers, MGR and J Jayalalithaa, he asked what the DMK had done when they were part of two UPA governments in Delhi and why they had not ensured even the formation of the Cauvery Management Board (CMB), after the river water Tribunal's final award. But it was 'Amma' who later fought a legal battle to get the Supreme Court give a directive on formation of CMB, he stressed.  

Mr. Palaniswami also announced various schemes for Tiruchirappalli district, including looking into the feasibility of setting up an integrated bus stand at Kottapattu village, besides distributing various welfare measures on the occasion to 32,361 beneficiaries involving a financial outgo of over Rs 101 crore. He launched 13 new schemes and laid the foundation stone for 45 new works with outlay of several hundred crore of rupees.  

Deputy Chief Minister, Mr. O. Pannerselvam, Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker, M Thambidurai, State Assembly Speaker, Mr. P. Dhanapal, were among those who participated in the MGR centenary celebrations here today. 

Earlier R.Venkatesan, secretary Tamil Development, Information and Public Relations department, welcomed the gathering while Tiruchy collector K.Rajamani proposed the vote of thanks.