Tamil Nadu polls: MK Stalin & EPS spar over governance record

TRICHY: Chief minister M K Stalin on Friday strongly criticised the Union govt for allegedly asking the Tamil Nadu govt to reconsider its minimum support price (MSP) incentives aimed at supporting farmers. Campaigning in Thanjavur, he said the Centre views the resultant rise in paddy production in Tamil Nadu as troublesome. He asked whether ‘fake farmer' Edappadi K Palaniswami would dare to criticise the Centre's views.Stalin said the state govt had recently received an ‘audacious' letter from the finance ministry claiming that paddy production was rising due to additional incentives provided by the state govt to farmers selling paddy, which was creating multiple problems. "The Union govt is asking us not to provide the incentive, and it is coming from the ministry of Nirmala Sitharaman, who proudly calls herself a Tamilian," Stalin said. "If Palaniswami is a true Tamilian and has any shame left, will he speak out and condemn BJP? Or will he continue making only uncouth remarks," he said. Terming the Union govt's move as betrayal, Stalin alleged that ‘fake farmer' Palaniswami had not increased the incentive even by one rupee during the four years he was in power. "He wore a ‘Pachai Thundu' (green stole) and committed ‘Pachai Dhrogam' (plain treachery)," Stalin said.Stalin expressed pride in having increased paddy incentives for 30 lakh farmers — from Rs 70 to Rs 156 per quintal for fine variety and from Rs 50 to Rs 131 per quintal for common variety, thus fulfilling his 2021 election promise. ‘Dravidian Model 2.0' govt would raise the MSP to Rs 3,500 per quintal, he said, ‘no matter how many obstacles the BJP govt and Palaniswami place,' he said.The DMK president accused the Union govt of manipulating official positions in non-BJP ruled states. Stalin said his rivals had written off his chances of becoming chief minister in 2021, and were now claiming no one from DMK got consecutive term. "I broke your predictions last time and I will break them again," he said.Stalin campaigned for DMK candidates Govi Chezhian (Thiruvidaimarudur), Durai Chandrasekaran (Thiruvaiyaru), Sakkottai K. Anbazhagan (Kumbakonam), R Vaithilingam (Orathanadu), K Annadurai (Pattukkottai), N Ashok Kumar (Peravurani), and Sun Ramanathan (Thanjavur) and IUML candidate A M Shahjahan (Papanasam).