Tamilnadu is leading in all fields due to the progressive, people-centric schemes unveiled by TN’s first DMK Chief Minister CN Annadurai and carried forward by his successor M Karunanidhi, Chief Minister MK Stalin said in Tiruvannamalai on Friday.
Addressing a well-attended meeting after distributing government aid to archakas of Sri Arunachaleswarar Temple, declaring open a statue of former CM M Karunanidhi and inaugurating a renovated Anna arch on Vellore Road and hoisting the party flag atop a 66-foot pole, he said Tiruvannamalai was innately linked with the DMK and could not be separated as deepam can’t be seperated from it.
Referring to party luminaries, who were instrumental in taking the party forward, he recalled the DMK’s journey in Tiruvannamalai town and said Rs 1,450 was collected as funds for the party in 1957. PU Shanmugam alone gave Rs 100, which was sizeable amount in those days, Stalin added.
Similarly, when the party won one of its first elections, three of the 15 MLAs were from Tiruvannamalai. Also, of the 2 MPs, who won during its early forays into the polls, one of them was from here, he recalled.
Even when the party was in the Opposition in 1963, the DMK won bypoll to Tiruvannamalai, he said.