PMK charges DMK with copying its election manifesto

Chennai, April 15: PMK on Friday, April 15 alleged that DMK had "copied" its election manifesto, charging the Karunanidhi-led party with "literally lifting" many provisions from an earlier draft released last year.

Releasing his party's manifesto for the May 16 Assembly polls, PMK founder S Ramadoss alleged that DMK "has copied 42 schemes," proposed in a draft manifesto released in September last. "The DMK has copied 42 schemes, literally lifting them from our draft manifesto.

This includes implementation of Prohibition, establishing Lok Ayukta, Right to Service Act and appointing a panel to the Chief Minister to advise on economic affairs," he told reporters here. To buttress his claim, he mentioned the page numbers of the schemes in PMK's draft manifesto and DMK's manifesto released recently.

Waiver of cooperative farm loans, encouraging nature farming, setting up of cold storage facilities in all the 32 districts, establishing a Coconut Industrial Park at Pollachi in Coimbatore district and constituting a panel to devise CBSE-like school curriculum and live coverage of Assembly proceedings were other schemes "literally lifted" by DMK from PMK's draft manifesto, he alleged.

He asked if DMK was really serious about these issues, they could have done it earlier considering "he (Karunanidhi) had been Chief Minister five times." Ramadoss' son and party's Chief Ministerial candidate Anbumani sarcastically remarked that the first part of the manifesto (the draft), was released last year "the second one in Anna Arivalayam (DMK headquarters) last week and the final one today."

DMK had released its party manifesto for the May 16 Assembly elections on April 10. Assuring his party's main promise of bringing in a dry law if voted to power, Anbumani reiterated that his first order as Chief Minister would be to implement prohibition.

He attacked DMK Treasurer M K Stalin on the matter, saying he had gone back on his word of "first day first signature" to implement prohibition if Stalin became Chief Minister as DMK had now proposed a legislation. "What is the need for a legislation when it can be done by way of an executive order?. This is a ploy to postpone the dry law," he alleged.

He also slammed AIADMK General Secretary and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for promising to implement prohibition in a phased manner if re-elected to power, saying her Ministers were till last month insisting that dry law was not at all possible in the state.

"But she has changed her mind. Jayalalithaa knows the sentiments of the people," he said while criticising the ruling party for not implementing prohibition so far.

PTI