Congress continuing in DMK alliance is doubtful: Edappadi K. Palaniswami

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Friday doubted if the Congress would remain in the DMK-led alliance for the upcoming Assembly election in the State.

After participating in the Pongal celebrations organised by his party at M. Kalipatti near Mecheri in Salem, Mr. Palaniswami interacted with journalists. Responding to a question, he did not rule out more parties joining the AIADMK-led alliance. “We cannot openly talk about those parties now. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), headed by AIADMK, will jointly face the election with alliance parties. But in the DMK alliance, there is a doubt that whether Congress will continue or not.”

When asked about the controversy over the recently released Parasakthi movie in which there were scenes criticising the erstwhile Congress government’s actions during the anti-Hindi imposition agitation in the 1960s, Mr. Palaniswami said it was a film and the AIADMK could not comment on it. On January 25 every year, the AIADMK observes Tamil Mozhi ThiyagigalDhinam (Tamil language martyrs’ day).

Regarding the secondary grade teachers’ protest, he said the DMK made promises to the teachers but failed to fulfil them after getting their votes.

‘TAPS is a drama’

He reiterated that the Tamil Nadu Assured Pension Scheme (TAPS) announced by the State was a “drama”. “It (government) just modified the pension scheme announced by the Union government and named it TAPS. The DMK had only promised to restore the Old Pension Scheme, which does not mandate any contribution from the government employees. But in TAPS, employees should contribute. Most of the employees did not accept TAPS,” he said.

The Leader of the Opposition said the DMK wanted to get votes through fake promises “but the AIADMK always promises only what it can do.”