DMK president M. Karuananidhi on Monday said his party approached the Congress for support in the Rajya Sabha polls only after exhausting all avenues of support and there was no truth in the allegation that its stand was opportunistic or that it sought Congress backing while ignoring other parties.
“The campaign that the DMK has given up its principles and the Sri Lankan Tamil issue or that it has taken an opportunistic stand, ignored other political parties and got support from the Congress is aimed at pleasing Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and slinging mud at the DMK,” he said in a statement here.
He also recalled AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik’s clarification that the Congress had decided to support DMK candidate Kanimozhi taking into view the existing situation and there was no trade-off involved.
“Union Minister V. Narayanasamy also said the support was confined to the RS polls and any decision on alliance for the Lok Sabha polls would be taken by the Congress high command,” he said, hinting that that there was no formal agreement between the parties for the Lok Sabha polls.
Recalling the sequence of events that led to the DMK seeking the support of the Congress, he said while the media was critical of the DMK, it was silent about Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s inconsistent stand on the RS polls. She first said her party would field five candidates and advised the CPI to contest for the sixth seat. Later, she changed her line and gave up one seat for the CPI, as she thought the Communists and the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam led by actor Vijayakant would come together and win a seat.
Mr. Karunanidhi said the DMK approached the CPI(M) for support, but the party’s general secretary Prakash Karat and Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury made it clear that though they were disappointed with Ms Jayalalithaa’s announcement that the AIADMK would contest all the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, they had no option but to support the CPI candidate.
He said the DMK treasurer held discussions with Vijayakant’s brother-in-law Sudhish, but the party subsequently decided to field its candidate. The PMK announced a boycott. Finally both the DMK and the DMDK submitted letters to the Congress leadership at a same time seeking support in the RS polls.
