Less than a month after parting ways with the ruling AIADMK to join NDA, actor and leader of All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi R. Sarathkumar, on Wednesday, met Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and renewed the friendship between the two parties.
“We had a cordial meeting and decided to contest the elections together. Other modalities will be discussed later,” Mr. Sarathkumar told The Hindu .
Asked why he had agreed to be part of the AIADMK front after holding talks with BJP leader and Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, Mr. Sarathkumar said there had been no progress on the front.
“We waited. But it could not move forward. We already convened a meeting of the party functionaries at various levels, and it was suggested that we could renew our relationship with the AIADMK,” he said.
Mr Sarathkumar said even though DMDK leader and actor Vijayakant had joined the People’s Welfare Front (PWF) it is unlikely to make a difference for the front. “Even if you put together the vote share of all the constituents of the front they cannot cross nine per cent. As people always prefer a stable and strong government their natural choice will be the AIADMK,” he said.
Senior AIADMK minister R. Vaithilingam and Edappadi K. Palaniswami were present when Mr. Sarathkumar met Ms. Jayalalithaa.
Notably, senior ministers Panneerselvam and Natham R. Viswanathan, who had played a major role during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, were absent.
