AIADMK’s chief, J Jayalalithaa after filing her nomination from the temple town of Srirangam, listed the ‘gifts’ she would give to the voters. They included, laptops for students from Class XI, free fans, mixers and grinders to all and mineral water to BPL families.
Jayalalithaa went many steps ahead of her rival, DMK leader and present CM of tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi who also had offered the laptops to the student and a concrete houses to those living in huts at present, if voted to power. Both the political parties have said they will give free bus passes to citizens aged above 58.
In a bid to woo women voters, Jayalalithaa promised four grams of gold for 'Thali' (mangalsutra) free of cost to poor, besides cable TV connections at subsidised rates. Four sets of uniform and footwear for students, 20 litres of mineral water a day to Below Poverty Line families, six months' maternity leave for women and Rs 12,000 as pregnancy allowance have also been promised.
Old aged persons abandoned by their wards would be lodged in homes and provided three meals a day, free medical aid and library facilities, according to the manifesto. The AIADMK manifesto has not only tried to take a leaf from the DMK manifesto about several major schemes, but also sought to go beyond them in some areas.