Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], March 20 (ANI): Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) leader Fathima Farhana took a dig at the slew of welfare promises made by the major political parties in Tamil Nadu ahead of the scheduled assembly polls, saying that the 'freebies' must ensure sustainable living for the people.

She said that Tamil nationalist NTK favoured 'freebies' such as proper education and access to medicine.

'We want to be a change from these common political parties that are already there. When all the other parties are giving Rs 2,000 or so as a freebie to appease votes from the general public, I think the real freebie would be proper education and access to medicine. These should be of international standards. We see neighbouring states providing good medical facilities, and we lag in that,' Farhana told ANI on Thursday.

The NTK young wing leader said that Tamil Nadu requires focus on making roads and pure drinking water accessible to people in the state. She said that her party will ensure that such 'freebies' are given priority over 'materialistic' ones.

'Access to roads and pure drinking water is a great question for us right now in Tamil Nadu. I think we should make all these factors accessible to people. We also promise the people that we will be giving these things as freebies to them, instead of actually the materialistic freebies that will only last for a month, 15 days or 20 days, because they are not even of good quality. These are not going to help the public in sustainable living. We want a holistic change in the state,' Farhana said.

NTK released its manifesto in Chennai, presenting a governance model rooted in Tamil identity, self-sufficiency, and ecological preservation.

Emphasising the vision, NTK chief Seeman said the party is moving steadily towards its long-held goals for the state.

'We are moving towards our dreams of what our state should become. This is not new, it has been our vision for a long time, and we are determined to achieve it,' he stated, adding that Tamil Nadu needs 'a change in governance, not just a change of party'.

On social welfare, employment, infrastructure, and tourism, the regional party proposes private sector reservations for 'Aadhi Tamizhar,' with penalties such as withdrawal of subsidies for non-compliance.

In this four-cornered contest, NTK is a crucial player, with the regional party contesting on all 234 assembly constituencies alone. The 2026 Tamil Nadu assembly polls are a competition between Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) that includes Congress, Vijayakanth's DMDK, among others, and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by AIADMK, including BJP and Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK).

The ECI on Sunday announced that Tamil Nadu will go to the polls in a single phase on April 23, with counting of votes scheduled for May 4. The current tenure of the 234-member state assembly ends on May 10.

In the 2021 assembly polls, the ruling DMK won with 133 seats while AIADMK emerged victorious on 66 seats. Congress stood at 18 seats. The state witnessed a voter turnout of 76.6 per cent. (ANI)