Stalin Launches Campaign to Reach Out to Voters for Polls

(Above) Tamil Nadu CM and DMK president MK Stalin arrives at the party's general council meeting in Madurai on Sunday; DMK youth wing president and deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin being felicitated. PTI

- Divya Chandrababu

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu chief minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president MK Stalin on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre of attempting to "financially strangle" Tamil Nadu by "withholding the rightful share of funds" due to the state. He also sounded the poll bugle for the 2026 assembly elections by starting a member enrolment drive.

The CM was speaking at the DMK's general council meeting held in Madurai, during which 27 resolutions were passed.

"In the historically significant land of Madurai, a land that exemplifies the ancient culture of the Tamil people, we have convened this General Council meeting to make decisions essential for the future of Tamil Nadu, to devise strategies to confront and defeat the forces that surround and threaten the state, and to work tirelessly towards victory," he said.

Stalin launched the "Oraniyil Tamil Nadu" (all of Tamil Nadu in one party) campaign, which aims to reach out to every household across the state. The campaign sets out with a vision to reach out to 20 million households in Tamil Nadu and register 10 million families under the drive. He set a target of registering 30% voters in every booth as DMK members.

Taking a dig at the opposition AIADMK and BJP, he said that the DMK, which came to power in 2021, saved Tamil Nadu from the crisis left behind by the previous AIADMK government that is in alliance with the BJP.