Aam Aadmi Party leader Prashant Bhushan on Sunday ruled out any truck with political parties in Tamil Nadu in the upcoming general elections.
Asked for a comment on a media report that Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) president Vijayakant considered an electoral pact with the AAP in the State, Mr. Bhushan denied any development on this front and stated that his party would first and foremost be an aggregation of like-minded people.
Alleging that the ruling AIADMK and the DMK were corrupt, Mr. Bhushan said both the parties were diverting the attention of the people from real issues by raising communal or caste issues.
“The main issues are corruption, governance and people’s empowerment,” he said.
The AAP’s national executive committee member, who was in Chennai to address a conference of AAP members from districts across the State, endorsed the “official” list of authorised representatives of the party in Tamil Nadu, including convenor Christina Samy and co-convenor M. Lenin while upholding the expulsion of five dissidents from the party’s fledgling State unit.
Fielding questions, Mr. Bhushan alleged that corrupt money, which had spawned a mafia in the country, controlled the entire systems of power, including the major political parties.
On the speculation that the AAP sought to rope in S.P. Udayakumar, leader of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy that opposed the Kudankulam nuclear plant, Mr. Bhushan said the party was open to taking on board good activists.
Earlier at the conference, Mr. Bhushan was reported to have outlined the AAP’s strategy for the general elections and also emphasised the need for finalising the party’s position on issues specific to the State, including the problems faced by Tamil fishermen at the hands of the Sri Lankan Navy, by February.
Shortly after the AAP leader left the venue of the conference in Valasaravakkam here, K. Balakrishnan, one of the expelled members who had been raising slogans against a section of the State leadership, alleged that he was prevented from handing over a petition to Mr. Bhushan on irregularities committed by some party leaders. He said he would submit the petition to AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
