By IANS
Chennai : Leader of Opposition and AIADMK chief J. Jayalalitha launched a scathing attack on the ruling DMK Saturday for “splurging money on freebies instead of concentrating on real development activity in Tamil Nadu”.
“This chief minister is blowing his own trumpet by claiming that the gift of TVs is a major achievement. Instead, he ought to have organised flood relief in which he has miserably failed,” Jayalalitha told reporters here.
She pointed out that while the state government applied for flood relief from the centre to the tune of Rs.15 billion ($380 million), it had spent the same amount for distributing free television sets last year.
She demanded an immediate halt to the distribution of free TV sets and to use the funds to alleviate the sufferings of those who were hit by the floods during the torrential rains last week.
The Tamil Nadu government has so far set apart Rs.15 billion during the last two budgets for the distribution of free TVs and announced that the measure will continue till every household in the state is covered.
In its last tender, the government fixed a price of Rs.2,197 per set and indicated that it had saved Rs.1.62 billion for exchequer.
The opposition has charged the government with “selling” the television sets to the ruling party workers at the rate of Rs.1,500 per set.
“If the chief minister is genuinely concerned with the people, he should immediately halt the TV distribution scheme and attend to flood relief,” Jayalalitha said.