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Stalin gives 25 seats to Cong; promises 10 lakh jobs a year and 20 lakh houses
“We aim to lift 10 million people from poverty and increase per capita income by four-lakh rupees every year,” Stalin said.
Having inked alliance with all seven parties, including the Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief MK Stalin on Sunday announced sops for people in the 10-year-vision plan, if the party comes to power in April 6 polls, while claiming that days of ruling AIADMK is numbered.
Addressing massive state conference for its cadre in the outskirts of Trichy, Stalin said that the DMK government will give ₹1,000 every month to housewives and will create 10 lakh jobs every month.
“We aim to lift 10 million people from poverty and increase per capita income by four-lakh rupees every year,” Stalin said.
In the farming sector, Stalin aspired to bring Tamil Nadu among the top three states for cash crops and double crop cultivation from 10 lakh acres to 20 lakh acres. He promised 20-lakh concrete houses, piped drinking water supply and broadband connectivity for all households in villages.
The announcement came on the day DMK is poised to fight 170 of the 234 assemblies with an aim to get a simple majority on its own. On Sunday, Stalin agreed to give 25 assembly seats and Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat to its main ally Congress. Kanyakumari seat fell vacant after the death of Congress MP H Vasanthakumar last year.
Asked if his party was satisfied with the number of seats allotted by its ally, Congress Tamil Nadu in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao said the only aim was to ensure the victory of the secular front led by DMK. The Congress had initially asked for 40 seats and the number is one of the lowest the party is contesting in the southern state for almost two decades.
With this, the DMK has allotted 48 seats from its share to parties in the coalition (CPI, MDMK, VCK, IUML, MMK) with talks remaining only with the CPI(M) and a few smaller parties. Talks between DMK-Congress hit a roadblock as the national party wanted at least 30 seats but the DMK wasn’t willing to budge as they wanted to contest more seats and enter the assembly with a comfortable majority.
“This election isn’t just for a change of government but for the DMK to remain in power continuously in Tamil Nadu,” he said while revealing his vision which he said was prepared in consultation with economists, educationists and experts.
The high-voltage conference had mobilised more than one- lake cadre who had gathered in the outskirts of Trichy near Samayapuram toll gate at a 350-acre that was covered in red carpet. Stalin entered with fireworks and a DJ-team blaring his campaign song as he went on a one-kilometre ramp walk waving to the crowd.
Trichy, being a stronghold of the DMK, is represented by MLA and party principal secretary KN Nehru and has had several such conferences in the past. “But this is the biggest I’ve seen in my lifetime,” said veteran leader Durai Murugan. Stalin recalled that decades ago, it was in Trichy where DMK founder CN Annadurai had held a conference and decided that they would enter the electoral fray.
Three stages were erected for party leadership, legislators and second-rung leaders. The stages were enveloped by LED screens that displayed graphics as Stalin spoke of his vision.
“People are yearning for a change,” said former Union minister A Raja on the sidelines of the conference. The cadre who had gathered from neighbouring districts said that they would win with more voter difference this election than in the 2019 LS polls. “From the crowd here can’t you tell that the DMK only will come to power? We have been waiting for ten years. People are fed up,” said K Saravanan, a farmer and party cadre from Villupuram.
DMK will release its election manifesto on March 11.