Chennai: Chief minister M K Stalin made a strong pitch to woo youth towards DMK in the upcoming assembly elections. He announced the government would start giving laptops to college students, countering AIADMK's charges of DMK halting the free laptop scheme.

"Youth are the foundation of Tamil society. The primary goal of the Dravidian model government is to enable the growth of youth. This government is for the youth," Stalin said on Wednesday after distributing appointment orders to around 2,300 youth recruited through the state municipal administration department.

"Since education alone is not enough, the government is creating job opportunities as well," Stalin said, adding that more than one lakh youth were given jobs through TNPSC, TRB, and TNUSB, more than three lakh jobs were provided through the Naan Mudhalvan scheme while another 2.65 lakh got employment through job fairs organized by the labor department.

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"For the first time, sports quota in employment was given in TN facilitating jobs for 84 youth," he said. As a result of 941 MoUs signed over the past four years, attracting 10 lakh crore in investments, more than two lakh jobs have been generated, he said.

Stalin said the government was also creating a conducive environment for attracting investments, which spurs economic growth resulting in job creation to benefit youth. "Peaceful ambiance, proper maintenance of law and order, skillful youth, requisite infrastructure, and schemes rolled out with foresight are helping TN remain on top," he said.

Efforts have begun for the generation of more jobs in Dravidian model government 2.0 too after 2026, he added.

Political analyst A Ramasamy said such initiatives consolidate DMK's support base. "Schemes such as Naan Mudhalvan mainly attract students from economically disadvantaged groups. These programs targeting youth are helping the party consolidate its base," he said. However, professor and economist Krishna Raj said the job figures required closer scrutiny. "Filling one lakh government vacancies is good. But where are the remaining jobs that were created? If these are in the industrial or informal sector, they may lack social security, insurance, or benefits," he said.