AIADMK leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) has sharply criticised Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, accusing him of regularly spreading falsehoods and misrepresenting facts about government welfare schemes and development programmes. His remarks came amid intensified political rhetoric ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.Addressing the media, EPS claimed that Stalin resorts to lying whenever he speaks, asserting that the Chief Minister has no intention of fulfilling his political promises but instead relies on misleading statements to influence public perception. He argued that Stalin’s recent comments at a public event in Chennai’s Nungambakkam area were indications of such a pattern.
EPS specifically challenged Stalin’s portrayal of reservation policies, arguing that the 7.5% internal reservation for government jobs and educational institutions — which was introduced under the AIADMK government and implemented through a government order — is being falsely claimed by the DMK as its own achievement. EPS said that reviving and issuing the order for internal reservation for underrepresented communities was his administration’s initiative intended to benefit students from government schools, but he accused Stalin of attempting to construct a narrative that credits the DMK for the policy.
On other welfare programmes such as the school nutrition scheme and the Infant Care scheme associated with former AIADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa, EPS emphasised that these were established long before the DMK came to power. He dismissed what he called the DMK’s “duplicative claims,” asserting that it is misleading the public by presenting old schemes under new names or implying that they were first introduced by the current government.
EPS also accused the ruling party of poor fiscal management, pointing to Tamil Nadu’s rising debt and lack of substantive funding for key projects over the past three years as examples of ineffective governance. While the DMK has defended its tenure by highlighting welfare schemes and budgetary support for social sectors, Palaniswami argued that inflation, debt, and unmet promises have adversely affected ordinary citizens.