Namakkal: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday sarcastically wondered if Leader of the Opposition, Edappadi K Palaniswami was in a dream land so as to forget the realities, and accused him of spreading a misinformation campaign about the DMK’s increasing popularity among the people.
As the electoral results have shown in the last five years, the AIADMK will again face a crushing defeat at the hands of the DMK in the 2026 assembly elections and be decimated, the Chief Minister said after laying the foundation stones for 140 new projects worth Rs 366 crore in Namakkal district besides inaugurating 134 completed projects valued at Rs. 298 crore.
Also, he unveiled a statue of DMK stalwart and late Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, and later distributed welfare aids to the tune of Rs 146.56 crore to 16,031 beneficiaries.
Speaking at Bommakuttaimedu on the Namakkal-Salem national highway, he said, “the DMK’s influence among the people increased in the recent Lok Sabha election more than what was witnessed during the Assembly election (in 2021). Unable to tolerate this,the Leader of the Opposition is saying that DMK’s respect is declining.”
“Is the Leader of the Opposition in this world or in a dream world, to utter thus? He should ask the women who travel on the government buses daily, and understand the value by seeing the relief writ large on their faces,” the CM said.
Palaniswami would understand the reality if he asked “over one crore sisters” receiving a monthly grant of Rs 1,000 each and also realise that the free breakfast scheme was benefitting 20 lakh children in the state.
Lakhs of girl students benefited through the Rs 1,000 monthly financial assistance, while 30 lakh youth gained skills through the ‘Naan Mudhalvan’ scheme. They all knew the worth of the DMK government, he added.
“He (Palaniswami) says the DMK’s reputation is declining. People regard this comment as comedy and I am not bothered about his comment. I am not prepared to bestow attention to it… We have won the elections held in the last five years with people’s support,” Stalin said.
Palaniswami had mortgaged TamilNadu’s respect when he was in power, he alleged. “Since you were keen only on safeguarding your position, not only your respect but also that of your party has decreased,” Stalin, who is the president of the DMK, said.
He further said that he was concerned only about the people’s welfare and not about Palaniswami or the AIADMK rejected by the people. “We are serving the people by being one among them. That’s why we are winning the polls continuously,” he said
Even in the next Assembly election too, the DMK would register a resounding victory and through the Dravidian model of governance, it will show the path to the country and make Tamil Nadu march with pride, besides make TN numero uno in all sectors.
Later, the Chief Minister congratulated the Namakkal district police for nabbing the Thrissur (in Kerala) ATM heist gang last month and felicitated the superintendent of police Rajesh Kannan, officials and policemen involved in the operation.
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