Ex AIADMK MP Sasikala Pushpa holds TN CM accountable for agrarian crisis

Expelled All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) MP Sasikala Pushpa on Monday held Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami -led Tamil Nadu government accountable for the present agrarian crisis in the state, stating that agriculture issue, being a state subject, should have been dealt promptly by the State Government as Tamil Nadu has been declared as a drought state.

"Former chief minister O. Panneerselvam had announced that Tamil Nadu is a drought state. The current chief minister is not at all taking care of agrarian society; that's why the agrarian crisis came," Pushpa told ANI.

"They (the State Government) are blaming the Centre and doing politics against the Centre, but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is doing its best for the farmers. The state government should also do it," she added.

Pushpa's remarks come close on the heels of a one-day state-wide bandh called on by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK) and six other regional parties to highlight the plight of farmers.

The DMK and six other parties on Sunday called for a one-day Tamil Nadu bandh on April 25 to highlight the plight of the state's farmers who are reeling under a devastating drought.

This came days after DMK working president M.K. Stalin met farmers in Delhi, who have been demanding loan waiver from the Centre.

"The farmers have been continuously undertaking protests in the national capital, but the Centre does not seem to be bothered about it. It is very unfortunate. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister must have come here and found a solution to the problem," Stalin said.