Chennai, April 16 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Youth Affairs and Sports Development Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Tuesday said that the state's Chief Minister's school breakfast scheme was also being implemented by the Canadian government, showcasing the influence of the Dravidian model of governance.

"The Chief Minister's breakfast scheme is benefiting 18 lakh students of Class 1 to 5 in Tamil Nadu, and the Karnataka and Telangana governments are also planning to implement the scheme in their states," the DMK youth wing leader, who is the son of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, said at the election campaign of the party's Erode Lok Sabha candidate K.E. Prakash at Othakadi in Modakurichi.

Training his guns at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said that the PM did not come to Tamil Nadu in the past ten years but is frequenting the state now with an eye on elections.

Udhayanidhi Stalin said that the Prime Minister, who was now speaking about the uplift of Tamil Nadu and Tamil people, did not turn up when the state was reeling under floods.

Terming Tamil Nadu the medical hub of the country, he said that some of the best doctors in the world were from the state but many of these renowned doctors had not cleared the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).

"Tamil Nadu has the world’s best hospitals and best doctors, who have not taken the NEET," he noted.

The DMK leader said that party patriarch and former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had opposed the NEET in 2010, saying that students would not be able to afford lakhs of rupees as coaching fees for it.

He said 22 students of the state had committed suicide after they failed to clear the NEET, noting that these were all brilliant students but couldn’t clear the exam due to the structured coaching classes.

He said that the DMK had in its election manifesto of 2021 promised that it would exempt the state from NEET and Chief Minister Stalin is taking steps for this.

Attacking the AIADMK, he said that former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami had betrayed the people of Tamil Nadu by joining hands with the BJP-led Union government to short-change the state.

"Not only were the rights of our state infringed, but education, financial and language rights of many other states also met the same fate," he said.

Udhayanidhi Stalin said women had travelled 465 crore times in government buses free of cost and the success of this scheme was one of the highlights of the ‘Dravidian model’ of governance.

He also said that a total of 1.60 crore applications were received under the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam and 1.18 crore applications were cleared. He said that 1.18 crore women were receiving a basic monthly income of Rs 1,000 now and after the verification process, all eligible women will receive the assistance in five months.