PMK to review ties with DMK soon

Chennai, Jul 1: DMK ally Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), which endured a drubbing in the April 13 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, will soon review its ties with the Dravidian outfit, party chief S Ramadoss said today (Jul 1).

In his first press conference after the polls, where his party returned only three MLAs to the Assembly out of 30 contestants, Ramadoss said the decision would be made before the local body polls scheduled later this year.

"It is a policy decision which will have to be decided at the General Council and the Executive. We will decide before the local body polls," he said when asked if his party was still an ally of DMK.

Releasing his party's ''shadow budget'' for the ninth consecutive time, Ramadoss said it focused on priority to boost sectors such as agriculture, education, development of Tamil language among others.

Charging his ally DMK, without naming the party or its chief M Karunanidhi, he said the withdrawal of Prohibition regime in 1971 (by the then DMK regime headed by Karunanidhi) had "destroyed many generations," (as many took to liquor).

Detailing the salient features of the ''shadow budget,'' Ramadoss urged the government to cut down on sales timing of liquor in state-run TASMAC shops.

Besides prohibition, he also demanded that the government ban cinema for five years, as liquor and films were two things spoiling today's youth.

The ''shadow budget'' also demanded establishing Special Agricultural Economic Zones on the lines of SEZs, providing free education to all till Class 12 and a separate Agriculture budget.

PTI