Not Stalin, people will decide on who should come to power: Tamil Nadu CM

The people of Tamil Nadu will decide who should come to power in 2021 and not DMK president M K Stalin, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said here on Friday, as he mocked at the opposition leader's call to his party workers to ensure its victory in the assembly polls.

Palaniswami, who is also the AIADMK's co-coordinator, said his government was taking forward late chief minister J Jayalalithaa's initiatives on securing investment and welfare measures as well.

"It's the people, not Stalin, who will decide who should come to power," Palaniswami told reporters here when his attention was drawn to Stalin's appeal to party cadres to bring the DMK back to power.

Stalin had written to party workers on Thursday on the eve of Karunanidhi's second death anniversary, asking them to strive hard to win the people's support and post a victory in the 2021 Assembly elections and dedicate it to the late leader. "We are doing everything within our means to attract investment to Tamil Nadu in a big way.

Even during the challenging times of Covid-19, my government is striving hard to attract investment besides creating jobs and ensuring livelihood.

Tamil Nadu has attracted investment of Rs 34,000 crore and signed 41 MoUs for the creation of 67,000 jobs. This is a big achievement during this crisis and Tamil Nadu is first among the states in India to attract such huge investments," Palaniswami said.

"The government has formed an expert committee to examine the NEP," he said when asked about the stand taken by his government in rejecting the three language formula.

Both Palaniswami and Stalin are on the same page with regard to opposing the "three-language policy" suggested in theNational Education Policy 2020.

On the e-pass system which Stalin wanted cancelled, the chief minister said he has formed a committee to expedite the process of issuing e-passes.

"A committee in addition to the existing one had been formed to issue e-passes without delay. Identity cards, which could be renewable the following month, will be issued to the employees based on the request from the companies," he said.