AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Friday announced that the party will organise a major protest in Villupuram on June 19, accusing the Tamil Nadu government of failing to fulfil its election promises to farmers and address the growing issue of power outages across the State.
The agitation is expected to bring together party cadres, farmers, and members of the public to highlight what the opposition describes as the government’s shortcomings in key sectors.
In a statement, Palaniswami alleged that the ruling government had secured electoral support by promising a comprehensive farm loan waiver scheme.
According to him, the government had assured farmers owning less than five acres of land that their entire cooperative bank loans would be waived, while farmers owning more than five acres would receive a 50 per cent waiver.
However, he claimed that these assurances had not been honoured after coming to power.
The AIADMK leader criticised the government’s revised loan waiver measures, arguing that they fell far short of the promises made during the election campaign.
He pointed out that the administration had announced a complete waiver only for farmers who had borrowed up to Rs. 50,000 from cooperative banks, a 50 per cent waiver for certain categories of small farmers, and a relief amount of just Rs. 5,000 for those who had borrowed more than Rs. 1 lakh.
Palaniswami described these measures as inadequate and accused the government of misleading voters for electoral gains.
Apart from the farm loan issue, Palaniswami also raised concerns over recurring power outages across Tamil Nadu.
He alleged that people in several districts were facing frequent and unannounced electricity disruptions, causing inconvenience to households, businesses, students, and farmers.
According to him, instead of implementing effective measures to improve power supply, the government had been offering explanations that failed to address the public’s grievances.