Stop freebies, create infra: HC to TN parties

Chennai, March 31

Deploring the freebies culture in Tamil Nadu to woo voters, the Madras High Court on Wednesday advised leaders of the political parties to stop this and engage in promoting infrastructural facilities.

The court’s observations came while admitting a writ petition from M Chandramohan from Tirunelveli district praying for a direction to the authorities concerned to convert the reserved Vasudevanallur Assembly constituency into a general one.

The petitioner wanted enabling of all communities to be candidate in the upcoming election and uphold the spirit of the Constitution of India.

“Each party tries to outdo each other in terms of populist promises. If one party promises monthly assistance of Rs 1,000 to women household heads, there is a counter offer of Rs 1,500. It goes on. The result is people started having a mindset that they could make a living out of freebies,” a Division Bench of Justices N Kirubakaran and B Pugalendhi said.

A trend has been created that whoever avails loan from banks does not repay them, expecting waiver of loans during election. PTI