Chennai, Sep 16 (PTI) AIADMK interim chief K Palaniswami on Friday dubbed the DMK government as a family regime and alleged that Chief Minister M K Stalin's family wielded power while he appears to be a mere doll.

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During the past 15 months of alleged autocratic DMK rule, people have only suffered, he claimed while addressing a protest held at nearby Chengelpet against the recent electricity tariff hike. "This is a family regime...a State would have only one Chief Minister. However, in Tamil Nadu there are about 4 Chief Ministers. The family is the power-centre, which wields power. Today, Chief Minister Stalin looks like a doll," Palaniswami, who is the Leader of the Opposition, alleged.

The AIADMK leader alleged that Stalin's son-in-law and son and the Chief Minister's wife hold the reins of power. Stalin does not govern Tamil Nadu, it is his family's rule, alleged the AIADMK's interim general secretary.

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People are not benefited whereas the State is allegedly being plundered, he claimed. "Commission, collection, corruption are happening in all departments. The focus is only on those, not in addressing people's issues," Palaniswami alleged. In the past, commission, collection and corruption slogan was often used by the DMK to target the AIADMK government.

People are being deceived by the DMK regime by using the slogan of Dravidian model, he said.

Palaniswami referred to the increase in property tax in the State including in the Corporation, municipal and town panchayat areas. Pointing to increase in such local taxes and the power tariff, Palaniswami dubbed Stalin as 'king of (tax) collection (Vasul Mannan)," by squeezing out people with as much taxes as possible.

Taking potshots at the often-repeated Dravidian model governance slogan of Stalin, he alleged that it reflected in sub-standard commodities, found in Pongal festival hampers, distributed early this year. He reiterated his party's opposition to the NEET and blamed the UPA regime (2004-14) in which Congress and DMK were key constituents for paving the way for the national test's introduction.

He said his party fought against the test legally and blamed the DMK regime for targeting AIADMK on the matter. Palaniswami made fun of the DMK regime for allegedly holding consultations to ban online card games. It was so apparent that such games were against the people. He wondered if deliberations to outlaw it is needed and said Stalin as a person who does not have a thought process.

Targeting the ruling party over its 2021 Assembly polls promises, the AIADMK leader said diesel prices were not reduced in sync with DMK's assurances and it has led to price rise. Several slogans, including those on alleged inefficient governance, were raised during the protest to seek roll back of the hike in electricity tariff.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)