Reiterating that it was an alternative to the Dravidian parties, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), at its general council here on Thursday, called upon people of the State to give a chance to it in the Lok Sabha elections.
Addressing the council, party founder S. Ramadoss held the State’s principal parties, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam responsible for what he called cultural degeneration that the State had seen. It was in this context that he referred to the emergence of the Aam Aadmi Partyin Delhi and said his party wanted to put an end to the dominance of the two Dravidian parties in the political arena of Tamil Nadu. To enable the PMK to achieve its goal, people of the State should give their wholehearted support to it, he said, adding that his party members should strive hard for the success of at least 10 candidates of his party, which formed a front called “social democratic alliance” in October.
At the general council, G.K. Mani, president, named the party’s nominees for three Lok Sabha constituencies: ‘Ediroli’ Manian for Tiruvannamalai; Vallar Govindasamy for Cuddalore and Gopi alias Gopalakrishnan for Chidambaram. Already, the party announced candidates for seven constituencies.
Several speakers including Dr. Ramadoss, former Union Minister Anbumani Ramadoss and PMK legislator J. Guru criticised the State government for what they called foisting cases on many party workers. The former Union Minister said there was nothing wrong in “caste politics” as the caste factor was all pervasive. The party adopted 17 resolutions.
