Chennai, Feb 10 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M K Stalin on Tuesday expressed confidence that his party would win the Assembly elections, retain power, and fulfill the remaining demands of the people.
Speaking at an event here, Stalin, pointing to the presence of legislator S Inigo Irudayaraj, said some demands are yet to be addressed.
“We will be assuming power again, and we will fulfill the remaining demands,” he said, an event held by the All India Association for Christian Higher Education and Women’s Christian College to thank the chief minister for the welfare schemes.
Irudayaraj is a DMK MLA from Tiruchirappalli-East, and also represents the Christuva Nallenna Iyakkam (Christian Goodwill Movement).
Stalin recalled that at Christmas events, he had made announcements in Tirunelveli in December 2025, fulfilling several demands.
Tamil Nadu will go to the polls in April 2026.
Last year, the CM had underlined that the subsidy for the Jerusalem pilgrimage had been enhanced.
Sixteen churches had been refurbished at Rs 2.15 crore. In the teacher selection committees of minority educational institutions, only representatives of those respective institutions will select teachers.
He had underscored many other initiatives, including the appointment of 1,439 teachers in educational institutions administered by minorities. Also, renovation of ancient churches at Rs 20 crore in 12 districts, new cemeteries in 6 districts by way of allocation of government lands, were among the announcements made by the CM at that time.
Against this background, the chief minister referred to the Rs 1,000 monthly assistance to college-going women under the ‘Puthumai Penn Thittam’ and said that as many as 8 lakh women students have benefited.
The scheme, as per a study conducted some time back, led to an additional 34 per cent increase in the enrollment of women in higher education.
“This is not an ordinary matter. If a study is conducted now, this percentage would have gone even higher,” he said.
The CM said it was the “continuous protest” held years ago by his party, the DMK, that prompted the previous AIADMK regime (2016-21) to introduce 7.5 per cent reservation for government school students in admission to UG courses in medicine.
“We (DMK) made them (AIADMK government) bring the reservation by holding continuous protests. After we assumed power, the 7.5 per cent reservation for government school students was extended to cover courses including engineering, agriculture, law and veterinary sciences,” the CM.
Further, he said the DMK government also had announced that the tuition and hostel fee of student-beneficiaries of this initiative would be borne by the government.
During the past 5 years, Rs 911 crore has been spent benefiting 40,613 students. The CM cited inspiring stories of student-beneficiaries and said the Dravidian model government has helped many families “change their destinies.” Similarly, the CM spoke on several other schemes of his government, including ‘Naan Muthalvan’ (Skill development and employability programme) and breakfast programme for school children.
Citing examples of A Rajeshwari (Salem) and Yogeshwari Selvam (Virudhunagar) from government schools who now study in IIT-Madras and IIT-Bombay after clearing JEE, he said the state government has borne the education expenditure of such students.
“Do you know why I told you about them? It was not only to tell you about the victory of our schemes and their impact. Going beyond, there is a lesson in it for all of you. There is no shortcut to victory. Only hard work brings victory.” The chief minister recalled a Superstar Rajinikanth’s dialogue in a film that “one could get nothing without slogging for it and something one gets without any toil may not last long.” PTI VGN SSK
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