Edappadi Palaniswami vows land ownership for Tamil Nadu temple residents, faces heat

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) has said his party will give pattas, or land ownership documents, to people living on temple land in Tamil Nadu’s delta region if it returns to power.

He said many families have been living on temple land for years, and the AIADMK government had started steps to make them owners. “As Chief Minister, I announced a scheme where the government would assess the land, pay the temple, and give pattas. But a few people went to court and got a stay,” he said.

“AIADMK will once again come to power and AIADMK Government will take action to make them owners of the land,” said EPS.

Political analyst Sumanth Raman criticised the plan on X. He said the land does not belong to the government and called the move “completely unacceptable” and a “bad move” by Palaniswami.

A few days earlier, during his statewide tour, Palaniswami also accused the ruling DMK of misusing temple funds. “Even seeing temples irritates the DMK. They take temple money meant for development and use it to build colleges,” he told crowds, calling it unfair and questioning why the government doesn’t fund colleges from its own budget.

The DMK hit back sharply, pointing out that the HR&CE Act allows surplus temple funds for education and charity. Chief Minister MK Stalin accused Palaniswami of echoing BJP’s ideology, while Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin called him a “Sanghi” and said this was not the AIADMK’s voice but that of the RSS-BJP.

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