TN CM Stalin launches 1,000 pharmacies across TN
Chennai, Feb 24 (PTI): As many as 1,000 ‘Mudhalvar Marundhagangal’ pharmacies providing medicines at subsidised prices to the people across Tamil Nadu was inaugurated on Monday by Chief Minister M K Stalin.
The initiative not only offers expensive medicines at affordable prices to the members of the public but also ensures employment opportunities for 1,500 B.Pharm and D.Pharm holders, the Chief Minister said.
Medicines will be available at discounts up to 75 percent.
"This would reduce the financial burden of the people dependent on medicines on a long-term basis. We wanted to end the situation where the public has to pay a high price to buy medicines and these pharmacies would help to reduce their financial burden," Stalin said at the inauguration.
Pharmacists and cooperative societies have been provided subsidy and required financial assistance to operate the ventures. While the entrepreneurs were provided Rs 3 lakh, the cooperative societies were provided a subsidy of Rs 2 lakh.
"These pharmacies have been stocked with three months’ supply of medicine and warehouses have been established in all the 38 districts across the state," he said.
AIADMK leader Dr C Vijayabhaskar slammed the DMK government for launching the scheme that was rolled out by former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa during her tenure in 2014.
"This scheme was launched by Jayalalithaa when she was the Chief Minister, through the cooperative department. Though those pharmacies still exist in certain pockets, the scheme was not implemented in totality because it contained the name 'Amma'," the former Health Minister told reporters after participating in the AIADMK leader's 77th birth anniversary celebrations at the AIADMK state headquarters here.
"The ‘Mudhalvar Marundhagangal’ scheme was launched to conceal Amma's name. This is unacceptable. This is like affixing a sticker on the AIADMK initiative," Vijayabhaskar added.
BJP state chief K Annamalai too slammed the ruling dispensation saying "a copy can never become an original" and posted a picture of the Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
'Last rites' of INDIA bloc: BJP on Cong-DMK fallout in Tamil Nadu
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Wednesday took a swipe at the Congress for extending support to Vijay's TVK in forming the government in Tamil Nadu and breaking away from its long term ally DMK, saying the party has a history of "betraying" its allies.
The saffron party also attacked the opposition INDIA bloc, claiming the alliance is "falling apart like a pack of cards" and lacks any common ideology or vision.
The Tamil Nadu Congress has decided to support TVK leader Vijay in forming a secular government in the state, sources said.
The decision to support the TVK was taken at an urgent meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of Tamil Nadu Congress late on Tuesday night.
Reacting to the development, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed the INDIA alliance had effectively come to an end after the declaration of assembly election results on May 4.
"There is nobody whom the Congress has not deceived. Imagine what they will do to the Samajwadi Party if they have done this to the DMK," he wrote in a post on X.
Calling it the "last rites" of the INDIA bloc, Poonawalla, in a video post, said, "It has become a Bharat free of the DMK, TMC and the Left, and now Congress has dumped the DMK for the TVK."
The BJP spokesperson alleged that the opposition bloc was formed solely out of political compulsions and personal ambitions.
"The INDI alliance never had any mission or vision. It was only about ambition for position, corruption, commission and obsession against Modi ji that they came together. But now it is all falling apart like a pack of cards," he said.
Questioning the unity of the opposition parties, Poonawalla said the alliance was absent in several states during the election.
"Where was the INDI alliance in Bengal, in Kerala, in Gujarat, in Punjab, in Delhi, in Haryana, in Karnataka? There is no INDI alliance," he said.
The DMK on Wednesday described the Congress move to extend support to TVK as a "backstab" by its long-time national ally.
Speaking to PTI videos, DMK spokesperson Saravanan Anadurai said, "The Congress party has decided to ally with the TVK, pledging their support to the party. I think they have backstabbed... They have backstabbed the people of Tamil Nadu. They've backstabbed the mandate given by the people of Tamil Nadu."
He said that the decision came even before the electoral process had fully concluded.
"Even before the ink on the returning officer's signature on the victory certificate dried up, they've chosen to go ahead with an alliance," he said.
Vijay's TVK won 108 seats in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly, falling short of the halfway mark. He needs the support of 10 MLAs to form a government with a simple majority. The results were declared only on Monday.
The Congress has won five seats, while the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has bagged four seats. The CPI and CPI-M have two seats each. The outgoing ruling party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), has won 59 seats while the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has won 47 seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won only one seat, and so have the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and the Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazagam (AMMK), while the VCK has won two seats.
The Congress had fought the assembly polls in a pre-poll alliance with the DMK, while the BJP had a tie-up with the AIADMK.
