PMK leaders have claimed they had rejected the support offered by the AIADMK in the Pennagaram by-elections.
“We were approached by senior AIADMK leaders many times. But we decided to go it alone. We were proved right as the election result has demonstrated our strength,” PMK president and legislature party leader G.K. Mani told The Hindu .
Mr. Mani said that besides agreeing to support the PMK candidate in Pennagaram, the AIADMK had come forward to withdraw the petition filed by former AIADMK Minister C.V. Shanmugam against PMK founder S. Ramadoss and his family members.
The petition related to a murder case and the issue led to the PMK, which was part of the AIADMK alliance in the 2009 Lok Sabha election, breaking ties with the AIADMK. The AIADMK had sought to revive the relationship in the wake of the by-election to the Pennagaram constituency.
The second promise of the AIADMK, Mr. Mani said, was related to fulfilling its commitment to offer a Rajya Sabha seat to the PMK, part of the agreement reached between the AIADMK and PMK prior to the Lok Sabha polls. Former Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss' term in the Rajya Sabha ends on June 29, 2010.
Mr. Mani said Venkatesh, the secretary of the AIADMK's Ilaignar and Ilampengal Pasarai, and AIADMK MP S. Semmalai spoke to him indicating their party's willingness to join hands with the PMK in Pennagaram. AIADMK MLA Agri Krishnamoorthy was also in touch with him. “Even a day before the AIADMK announced its candidate, I received a call from Poes Garden. If we had agreed to the proposals, the AIADMK would not have announced its candidate. But we did not show any interest,” he said.
According to Mr. Mani, the AIADMK leadership wanted him to convince Dr. Ramadoss to come for a rapprochement.
“They even wanted me to visit Poes Garden,” he said.
Asked what would be PMK's stand on the next Assembly elections, Mr. Mani said there was no need to discuss it now. “We will cross the bridge when we come to it. Now, we are concentrating on strengthening the party organisations,” he said.
