ADMK's Joint Coordinator and Tamil Nadu Opposition leader Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) has warned the MK Stalin-led DMK government on Saturday to annul its plan to shut down Amma Pharmacies, one of the flagship initiatives of deceased ADMK leader and former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Launched in Jayalalithaa's rule between 2011-2017, Amma Pharmacies are located across the state. 

Edappadi Palaniswami has now warned the DMK regime in its plan of closing the pharmacies. In a statement, Palaniswami had accused the DMK government of failing to realize its election promises and of closing the welfare schemes of the previous ADMK government. He claimed that the DMK government has formed two expert committees to improve the economy and financial resources and that the government is struggling to improve its financial position and increase revenue. 

MK Stalin's predecessor has also said that the current regime is closing down the projects that were launched by the ADMK government. He highlighted that Amma Pharmacies have been supplying medicines at a discount of up to 20%. By warning the DMK government not to shut down the pharmacies, Edappadi Palaniswami has alleged that the DMK regime had reduced the strength of staff, salary, and foodgrains to Amma Canteens,  shut down the operations of Amma mineral water, and Amma mini-clinic. 

Responding to the allegations, the DMK government had strongly refuted the charges and affirmed that no Amma Pharmacy shop was closed. Tamil Nadu Cooperative societies registrar Shanmugasundaram has on Saturday has denied the allegations of closing the Amma pharmacies and said that the state had taken steps to start 75 new pharmacies in his fiscal as against the target of 60. The department runs 305 pharmaceutical outlets of which 131 are Amma Pharmacies and the rest are cooperative medical stores. 

It has been reported that Amma Pharmacies sold Rs 44.88 crore worth of medicines in this fiscal, while the cooperative stores' Rs 48.21 crore. The officer further said that after coming power, the DMK government has not closed any one of the Amma pharmacies and it has increased the number of Amma pharmacies from 126 to 131 and added that the government has been taking efforts to run more such pharmacies and for centralized procurement with the view of increasing the sales and to benefit the poor.