A day after Chief Minister Jayalalithaa ordered closure of 500 state-run Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) liquor outlets, MDMK leader Vaiko appealed to the government to close 1826 shops.

As a first step, government should order closure of 1826 shops instead of 500 shops, out of the total 6826 shops, he said in a statement.

Besides working hours of the shops should also be reduced.

He welcomed waiver of Cooperative Bank loans of farmers and urged government to reduce debt burden of farmers,who had taken loans from Nationalised banks, by government itself paying the loans.

He wanted electricity bill payment schedule to be made monthly, instead of bi-monthly as is being done now, as, according to him, it would help the middle class.