Chiding DMK leader M.K. Stalin for claiming that the AIADMK is headed towards a split, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday advised him to “stop dreaming and save his party first.”
Campaigning at Thottiyam in Tiruchi district, he alleged that several attempts made by the DMK to cause discord in the AIADMK and bring down the government had proved futile in the past. “You said the government under my leadership will crumble within a month, six months and one year. We have now completed there years-and-10 months. People are now aware, and do not believe your misleading statements. You cannot touch even a cadre of AIADMK. Even a thousand Stalins cannot split the AIADMK,” Mr. Palaniswami said.
The Chief Minister charged that Mr. Stalin had entered politics through a “short-cut” with his family background. On the other hand, he (the Chief Minister) had risen from the grassroots. “Never think you can take a farmer with a rural background for granted,” he said.
Unlike the DMK, the AIADMK promises only what is achievable. His government was confident about implementing the Godavari-Cauvery rivers inter-linking project to find a perennial solution to the water shortage of Tamil Nadu, Mr. Palaniswami said. He thanked his counterparts in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on behalf of the farmers in Tamil Nadu for their cooperation.
“The DMK leadership on the other hand is worried only about the welfare of its family,” he claimed.
“It was only during the stint of your [Stalin ‘s] father Karunanidhi that the Kabini Dam was constructed in Karnataka resulting in the destruction of the livelihood of our farmers. Amma (Jayalalithaa) on the other hand secured Tamil Nadu’s rights by ensuring the Supreme Court verdict as a lasting solution to the water-sharing dispute of five decades,” he said.
