AIADMK General Secretary and Leader of Opposition in Tamil Nadu Assembly

New Delhi: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday released the party’s Tamil Nadu Assembly election manifesto, revealing 297 promises ahead of the April 23 polls.The manifesto puts welfare measures at the center of the party’s campaign, including a monthly assistance of Rs 2,000 for female heads of households and a special assistance of Rs 10,000 for each family.EPS also promised ‘Kul Vilakku Scheme’ for women. Under the scheme, monthly assistance will be given to all ration card holders and will be deposited directly into the bank account of the female head of the family.“To promote economic balance within the society, a monthly support allowance of Rs 2,000 will be provided to all ration cardholders through the ‘Kul Vilakku Scheme’. This amount will be deposited directly into the bank account of the female head of the family.”The manifesto said the special assistance of Rs 10,000 is to help households cope with rising prices and higher taxes.“Under the administratively incompetent Stalin-led DMK regime – due to its lack of foresight – prices of essential commodities have skyrocketed in the last five years. As a result, the public has been seriously affected. Besides, various taxes including property tax, house tax, electricity charges and water charges have been increased. As a result, the daily financial burden on families has increased manifold. Therefore, with the aim of reducing this burden on the people, a special assistance amount of Rs. Rs 10,000 will be provided to each family,” the manifesto read.Among other promises, the party said ration card holders will also get rice and pulses along with refrigerators. It also promised to extend the free bus travel scheme to men besides women and provide three free cooking gas cylinders a year to every ration cardholder.Tamil Nadu will go to polls in a single phase on April 23 and counting of votes will take place on May 4.Under the NDA seat-sharing agreement, the AIADMK-led alliance will contest on more than 170 seats. BJP has been allotted 27 seats, followed by PMK with 18 seats and AMMK with 11 seats.Meanwhile, the AIADMK is intensifying talks to finalize the alliance with GK Vasan’s TMC(M) and other smaller parties before the end of Tuesday.The main contest is expected to be between the DMK-led secular progressive alliance, comprising Congress, DMDK and VCK, and the AIADMK-led NDA with allies BJP and PMK. Actor-turned-politician Vijay is also set to make his electoral debut with TVK, which is likely to lead to a triangular contest in the elections.