Chennai, Jul 3 (PTI) The ruling DMK on Thursday kickstarted a 45-day door-to-door campaign across the state to enroll as party members, 30 percent voters in every polling station under the "Oraniyil Tamil Nadu" (Tamil Nadu as a single team) membership drive.
While party president and Chief Minister M K Stalin met people at Alwarpet here and set in motion the membership enrolment process, DMK leaders, ministers, MLAs and MPs followed suit and reached out to the public in their respective areas.
In a social media post, the Dravidian party chief said, "Let Oraniyil Tamil Nadu win, by transcending caste, religion and politics to protect Tamil Nadu's language and honour." The CM said during the next 45 days, district secretaries, MLAs, MPs and party veterans would involve themselves in reaching out to the people and bring them together. Along with Health Minister Ma Subramanian, Stalin visited the households here and party workers read out membership related questions to the public.
"Do you think Tamil Nadu's language, land and honour should be protected under any circumstances," was one of the questions posed during the enrolment exercise.
The DMK regime's flagship welfare schemes such as the Rs 1,000 monthly assistance for women were cited and public were asked if they thought that they should continue to avail benefits under such schemes. Did people think that the state should only be led by a chief minister who does not bow before "Delhi's authority," was one more query.
When the answers were affirmative, they were asked whether they would like to be part of "Oraniyil Tamil Nadu," (the DMK) and eventually they were enrolled as party members and a party sticker was also pasted on the outer wall of the house.
DMK leaders and elected representatives including A Raja, and ministers including Thangam Thennarasu, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, MRK Panneerselvam, SS Sivasankar, TRB Rajaa, C V Ganesan, R Gandhi and P Moorthy launched the campaign in their areas.
On July 1, Stalin launched the Oraniyil Tamil Nadu (OTN) campaign and the door to door visit commenced today.
The CM had said that the OTN comprised election campaign, membership enrolment, the DMK government's achievements and the Centre's betrayal of Tamil Nadu as well. It is to bring together the people to protect the state's language and honour. PTI VGN VGN SA