AIADMK leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) has strongly criticised Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, saying he is not the “fake farmer” who walked in a sugarcane field wearing a coat and shoes.In a statement, EPS said:
“I am not the man who acted like a farmer on a concrete road inside a sugarcane field wearing a coat and shoes.”
He added, “I was born into a farming family and I am proud to say that I am a real farmer. Even today, I am involved in farming. I understand the pain and struggle of farmers.”
EPS said Stalin knows nothing about farming. “He doesn’t know the sweat, hardship, or pain of farmers. He only rules with ads and photos,” EPS said.
He questioned Stalin’s claims, saying, “Am I the real farmer, or are you?” EPS added that the people of Tamil Nadu know who the real farmer is.
He also said, “Stalin is not qualified to issue certificates about who is a true farmer.”
EPS ended the statement by saying that in the 2026 state elections, the people of Tamil Nadu will clearly choose. He said they will remember the AIADMK’s work for development and law and order. He also criticised the DMK government for rising crimes, drug issues, and high state debts.
He said people will reject the DMK and show their anger clearly in the next election.
Continuing in the same vein, he alleged that the CM relies on photo shoots and publicity stunts to run the government. The DMK’s tactics, he claimed, would soon bite the dust.
Palaniswami further accused the DMK of failing to fulfil its electoral promises made to the farming community. Ahead of the Assembly elections, the DMK had pledged Rs 4,000 per tonne of sugarcane, an increase in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme mandays from 100 to 150, and a Rs 10,000 crore initiative to desilt and deepen the water bodies to improve the State’s water storage capacity. However, these promises have turned out to be nothing more than empty rhetoric, he said.