`Jobs and clean governance are people's priorities, not freebies'

CHENNAI: His party has promised smartphones to the poor, but M K Stalin feels freebies are passe. In their place, development, jobs and clean governance are emerging as prime demands of young voters, the DMK treasurer said in an exclusive interview with TOI.
“People do not want freebies anymore. About 40% of voters are youngsters, whose main concerns are lack of development and employment opportunities.They are fed up with rampant corruption and flight of investment from the state,“ he said during an hour-long interaction at his Cenotaph Road residence in south Chennai. The man touted to take over as the Dravidian party's chief even hints at incentivising reservation for Tamils in the private sector to reduce the backlog in employment exchanges.
Stalin has led an intense and interactive campaign against the AIADMK regime, first with roadshows beginning last September that were aimed at garnering the views of a cross-section of voters. The tours into the hinterland helped burnish his image within and outside the party and enabled him to put together a manifesto that connects with voters outside the DMK's traditional base. With the launch of the poll schedule, Stalin has shed his diffidence to adopt a more casual and approachable demeanor. He makes a point of standing as he addresses crowds from an open-roof, custom-built van, drawing them out occasionally to respond to his queries. And he never loses an opportunity to remind the crowd about the “inaccessibility“ of the present chief minister.
In some ways, the election may well be a referendum on his leadership style and acceptability as Karunanidhi's successor. Stalin chooses to underplay it though. He is unequivocal that his father and DMK chief M Karunanidhi is the leader and only he would be the CM. “I am working not to become CM, but to serve,“ he said.