Leader of the Opposition and AIADMK co-coordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Sunday accused the DMK government of returning to power through a false promise to abolish NEET.He was addressing a meeting of workers to introduce AIADMK candidates for the elections to the Salem Corporation. The party has put up candidates in all 60 wards. Mr. Palaniswami said that during the Assembly election campaign, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin promised the voters that he would sign on a file to ban NEET immediately after assuming office. But the test was yet to be abolished. He said NEET was introduced when the Congress-led coalition was in power at the Centre in December 2010. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad was the Health Minister then. It was former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and the AIADMK which stopped implementation of NEET in the State. It had to be introduced later because of a Supreme Court order.
‘Rural students hit’
Students of rural areas and underprivileged families were being affected by NEET, he said. His government introduced the 7.5% internal reservation for poor students to realise their dream of medical education. This was a measure to protect social justice. The DMK was talking about social justice now, but it was the AIADMK that had brought it into action, he said.Mr. Palaniswami said the AIADMK kept all its election promises. Following the party’s request, the Prime Minister agreed to set up a defence park in Salem and 5,000 jobs would be created through this project. The Prime Minister also agreed to set up a textile park near the Salem Steel Plant. The DMK made about 525 promises, but nothing materialised. It promised to reduce fuel prices, but only petrol price was cut and the State continued to blame the Centre for the increase in the prices. When the Centre reduced the prices, the Tamil Nadu government was not ready to do so, and 25 other States cut the prices. Mr. Palaniswami alleged that ₹100 in gas subsidy and ₹1,000 in cash for women were not implemented. The DMK promised gold loans on up to five sovereigns would be waived. Now, the government said the waiver would be given only to eligible persons. He said 73 lakh persons had taken gold loans, trusting the promise of Mr. Stalin and Udhayanidhi.He added that those who did not benefit from the waiver were paying an interest of ₹12,000. Mr. Palaniswami said the previous government gave ₹2,500 in Pongal gift to each ration card-holder and Mr. Stalin had then demanded that the government pay ₹5,000. Today, the DMK government had not paid a single rupee, nor did it give quality items in the gift hampers.