It is now a war of freebies in Tamil Nadu with AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa on Thursday coming up with a tit-for-tat manifesto in an attempt to beat the DMK at its own game by offering more sops and welfare schemes to woo the voters in the Assembly poll.
For instance, housewives in the state will get a free grinder, a mixie and a fan if the AIADMK wins. “The DMK has promised either mixie or grinder whereas I will give you both, plus an electric fan, remember,” Jayalalithaa said while releasing her manifesto at Tiruchy after placing it at the feet of the Aranganathar deity in the Srirangam temple in the morning. And an AIADMK government will present laptops to all students in higher secondary classes and degree courses in government and private institutions, unlike the DMK promise of laptops to only students in government engineering colleges.
Villagers below poverty line will get free goats and milch cows, but a bigger dole is the 25 kg of free rice Jayalalithaa has promised to all the ration card-holders as against the 35 kg offered in the DMK to just 18 lakh poor families. Also, poor brides will get 4 gm of gold for thali along with their marriage gift of Rs. 25,000. And if the girl happens to be graduate or diploma-holder, her marriage assistance will be Rs.50,000 plus gold.
Those over 58 years can travel free in government buses across the state unlike the DMK’s offer restricted to city buses. The AIADMK manifesto promises free hostels plus food for the destitute old in villages. If Mr Karunanidhi promised the elders that doctors would visit them at home once every month, Ms Jayalalithaa said her government would send mobile hospitals for home treatment. She said those living in huts would get 300 sqft green houses costing Rs.1.80 lakh each.
Ms Jayalalithaa said her government would raise funds by increasing productivity and growth rate. “Only those in need will be the real beneficiaries of the freebies,” she added.