DMK president M.K. Stalin is shedding crocodile tears on the issue of the 7.5% horizontal reservation in medical education and is trying to gain political mileage, but the people will see through his designs, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said on Friday.
No right
“The DMK and the Congress, which were responsible for the introduction of the NEET, have no right to say the AIADMK government has not mounted enough pressure on the Governor on the horizontal reservation issue. It is the AIADMK government that has created 3,050 new medical seats in the last nine years,” Mr. Palaniswami said in a statement.
The AIADMK government got a Bill on the horizontal quota passed in the Assembly to give an opportunity to students of government schools on a par with those of private schools.
“Hence, people will see through the Leader of the Opposition shedding crocodile tears...,” he said.
Mr. Palaniswami said that to gain political mileage, Mr. Stalin wanted to create an impression that it was because of the DMK’s efforts that the Governor was looking into the Bill.
‘Virus spread contained’
He said the government had successfully contained the spread of COVID-19 and keeping in mind the welfare of the people, he had announced that a vaccine, when available, would be given free of cost.
“Mr. Stalin is afraid that the AIADMK government is finding favour with people and following my announcement on the vaccine, he is again indulging in ‘press release politics’. People will not be fooled by this,” he said.
Baseless: Stalin
Mr. Stalin on Friday charged Mr. Palaniswami with making baseless statements about NEET and said the exams began to be conducted in Tamil Nadu only after he took charge. “Mr. Palaniswami has no right to speak about competence in his statement. If he wants to prove his competence and worth to the people, he should get the Governor’s approval immediately for the horizontal reservation of 7.5% in medical admissions,” he said.
Joining issue with the Chief Minister, Mr. Stalin said he had written to the Governor on the issue only with the good intention that he would take a swifter decision if both the ruling party and the opposition jointly raised the issue.
