Disagreeing with the People’s Welfare Front (PWF) convener and MDMK leader Vaiko, the CPI (M) on Thursday justified the front’s decision to name DMDK leader as the alliance’s chief ministerial candidate in the last general elections. The Left party argued that this was a tactical line to prevent the DMK and the BJP from luring Mr. Vijayakant to their camps.
On Wednesday, Mr. Vaiko had told The Hindu that it was a mistake to have gone back on the PWF’s original decision of not projecting an individual as the chief ministerial candidate.
Countering this, K. Balakrishnan, State secretariat member of the CPI (M), said, “It (projecting Mr. Vijayakant) was a correct decision. There are many reasons behind the poor performance of the PWF in the Assembly elections and singling out the decision to project Mr. Vijayakant as a Chief Minister candidate for the defeat is totally unjustifiable.”
According to him, the PWF chose to change its line of not projecting a chief ministerial candidate, “when we decided to expand the front to include the DMDK and TMC.” The only condition Mr. Vijayakant made before joining the PWF was that he wanted the PWF leaders to announce him as the Chief Minister candidate and they had agreed to it, Mr. Balakrishnan added.
The PWF, he believed, would have been at a great disadvantage if it had not included Mr. Vijayakant’s party. “The DMK and the BJP were bending over backwards to include him in their respective camps. If he had joined the DMK front, the outcome of the elections would have been different and the DMK would have won the majority and formed the government,” he contended.
‘Unnecessary controversy’
Mr. Balakrishnan felt that Mr. Vaiko had unnecessarily raised the issue now, especially when the by-election to Thiruparankundram constituency and deferred polls to Aravakurichi and Thanjavur Assembly constituencies were around the corner.
“There are so many other reasons which led to our defeat. Why is Mr. Vaiko not talking about his decision to stay away from contesting the elections? He is the convener of the front and his last minute decision to quit the race was not well received by the voters,” the CPI (M) leader charged.
He also did not agree with Mr. Vaiko’s argument that Chief Minister Jayalalithaa handled the Cauvery Water Dispute properly than others.
“She is also responsible for the present stalemate,” he alleged.
