By IANS,
Chennai: AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalithaa Tuesday came down heavily on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s remarks of continuing with freebies for the poor as long as they were there.
In a statement issued here, Jayalalithaa said: “By making this assertion, Karunanidhi was not expressing his concern for the poor in the state. He was only admitting that he does not have any scheme for the eradication of poverty.”
She charged that Karunanidhi wanted the poor in the state to remain poor so that he could keep bribing them with sops and freebies to buy their votes.
Jayalalithaa said arbitrarily giving away freebies to the poor without strengthening the basic infrastructure was like printing currency notes without a corresponding back-up in gold.
“Today, the situation in Tamil Nadu is such that while rice is available for the poor at Re.1 a kg through the public distribution, onions cost as much as Rs.90 a kg. All vegetables cost over Rs.50 a kg while pulses used for sambhar cost close to Rs.100 a kg,” she said.