BackPalaniswami government survives six months of chaos in Tamil Nadu
The Palaniswami govt in Tamil Nadu has managed to survive six months, amid chaos and instability in the ruling AIADMK, along with growing corruption accusations and charges
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Chennai: The Edappadi K. Palaniswami government in Tamil Nadu has managed to survive six months, amid chaos and instability in the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), along with growing corruption accusations and charges.
Sworn in as the 13th chief minister of Tamil Nadu on 16 February, Palaniswami will complete six months in office on Wednesday. This comes at a time when stakes are running high on the merger of two factions of AIADMK.
While there is soaring criticism over governance in Tamil Nadu, Palaniswami and his cabinet has maintained that they have successfully continued “Amma’s (late CM J. Jayalalithaa) legacy and governance".
“The first three months, the government had a survival problem and the next three months it has failed to perform," said writer-translator Aazhi Senthilnathan from Tamil Nadu.
A souvenir that was released in May to mark the “achievements of Palaniswami government in its first 100 days in office" highlighted that the measures schemes introduced by his government were intended to “fulfil the poll promises of Jayalaliathaa".
Palaniswami also claimed during a press meet in Salem in April that he had cleared 1,560 files in 70 days and there was “no file pending with the CMO’s office."
However, opposition leader and working president of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) M.K. Stalin asked (following the claims by Palaniswami) “Signing files is among the duties of a chief minister. For how many key projects has he given nod by clearing files?"
In February, former chief minister O. Panneerselvam rebelled against V.K. Sasikala, who was gearing up to take the chief minister’s chair. As Sasikala was convicted in a disproportionate assets case, she made Palaniswami her stand-in. The Palaniswami government had to prove its majority and survived with a wafer thin majority of six MLAs.
Allegations such as bribing of AIADMK legislators ahead of a floor test in the Tamil Nadu state assembly in February and a multi-crore scam, involving state minister and top police officials for alleged bribery to allow manufacture and sale of banned gutkha in Chennai over the last few years, are some of the accusations that have mired AIADMK.
From Tamil Nadu facing its worst drought in 140 years leading to farmers’ and drinking water crisis to exemption from National-Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and protests across Cauvery delta districts against the extraction of oil, the state has seen much in the last six months. Besides, over 1.31 lakh local body posts continue to remain vacant since October.
As Tamil Nadu farmers drew national attention by protesting in Delhi for over 40 days in March-April, the state government, which claimed to help distress-ridden farmers and urged the Centre to sanction a relief amount of Rs39,565 crore, denied in the Supreme Court that farmers had died due to agricultural distress.
The police high-handedness in dealing with public protests and the government justifying police methods has drawn much flak.
An oil spill from ONGC’s pipeline in Kathiramangalam, Thanjavur, led to protests by the locals and the village has been in news since a lathicharge on children and women by the police in June. But Palaniswami justified the police action in the legislative assembly on 3 July.
The issue of widespread demonstrations for liquor prohibition targeting the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corp., which runs liquor shops in the state, and the use of police force, was raised in May in the Madras high court, which questioned the state on the arrest of anti-liquor protesters.
"Along with a deep political crisis, there is administrative crisis and a serious problem in its relationship with the public is prevalent," said Senthilnathan, adding that the government is becoming “unpopular".
“Instability and lack of governance are reasons for this government’s failure in the public perception," he said.
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