Opposing Food Minister R. Sakkarapani’s announcement in Delhi that the DMK Government would soon open 500 ‘Kalaignar Unavagams’, AIADMK coordinator O. Panneerselvam on Friday said it was an act of political vendatta, aimed at blacking out ‘Amma Unavagams’. The canteens should continue to be called ‘Amma Unavagams’, he said.

“The idea of setting up canteens to provide subsidised food to the poor and the downtrodden was the brainchild of Amma [late AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa]. So the people expect the scheme to continue to function under the name ‘Amma Unavagams’,” he said. “The move to name the scheme ‘Kalaignar Unavagam’, instead of expanding the ‘Amma Unavagam’ scheme, under the same name, has a political motive,” he said.

The AIADMK coordinator condemned the Minister’s announcement, and urged the Chief Minister to intervene in the issue and continue to call such canteens as ‘Amma Unavagams’, should the government open any more of them.