Stalin sees poll motive in TN CM raising retirement age; mum on DMK-Congress seat-sharing

DMK president MK Stalin on Thursday hit out at Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami for raising the retirement age of government employees to 60 years, saying the announcement was made with an eye on the forthcoming assembly elections in the state. Though increasing the retirement age of state government employees was welcome, it appears that the announcement was made with the elections in mind, Stalin alleged.

Announcement made for elections?

"Raising the retirement age is welcome, albeit the announcement made for the election," the DMK leader said in a Facebook post on Thursday. He said the Chief Minister should have fixed the age criteria of 60 years when he had increased the retirement age to 59 from 58 years in May last year.

He said it was also necessary to increase employment opportunities for the educated youth, who are anxious about their future and have high expectations, and to devise strategies to safeguard their employment prospects. Stalin sought to know if the Chief Minister would invite the striking transport employees for talks.

The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday enhanced the retirement age of its employees, including teachers and PSU staff, to 60 years. Chief Minister K Palaniswami who raised the retirement age of government employees by a year, made an announcement in the Assembly under rule 110 that the increase will apply to all serving government employees including government and aided educational institutions, PSUs and local bodies, and those who retire on May 31, 2021.

DMK-Congress seat-sharing talks

The opposition DMK on Thursday held talks with its ally the Congress on sharing of seats in the Assembly elections for which the schedule is yet to be announced.

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Veteran Congress leader and former CM of Kerala Oommen Chandy, party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and AICC Tamil Nadu in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao were part of the delegation that arrived in Chennai to negotiate the seat-sharing with the DMK. The DMK was represented by its leaders who included general secretary Duraimurugan, Thoothukudi MP Kanimozhi and T R Baalu.

"The discussion was good. Both sides exchanged their views and it was decided that we meet again after holding separate talks within the respective parties," Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K S Alagiri, who also participated in the parleys, told reporters later. To a query, Alagiri replied, "we haven't discussed the numbers (of assembly constituencies to be contested). We conveyed our views and they too expressed their views." As per reports doing rounds, however, the Congress has asked for as many as 54 seats. In the previous elections Congress had contested 41 seats but managed to win only in 8.

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(With agency inputs)