CPI (M) state secretary K. Balakrishnan on Tuesday alleged that AIADMK cadres were not willing to work for the victory of BJP candidates in the Assembly elections. Though former AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa had declared that she would not ally with the BJP, the ruling party’s current leaders, O. Panneerselvam and Edappadi K. Palaniswami, have forged an alliance with the national party, he believed.
Addressing a public meeting to seek votes for DMK Virudhunagar candidate A.R.R. Seenivasan on Monday night. Mr. Balakrishnan recalled that Jayalalithaa had confessed to having made a wrong move in allying with the BJP in the past. She had vowed that the AIADMK would never join hands with that party. [She had said this in 1999 but later she had allied with the BJP in 2004.]
“The BJP leaders in Tamil Nadu, who wanted to piggyback on the AIADMK to win the election, are now complaining that the AIADMK cadres are not cooperating with them for poll work,” Mr. Balakrishnan claimed. AIADMK cadres were not willing to work for the BJP. Before the issue is settled between the AIADMK and the BJP, the election would be over, he added.
The BJP is trying to sow the seeds of manudharma in Tamil Nadu. It is important to prevent such an attempt from succeeding in Tamil Nadu, which never differentiated among different religions and castes, he said.
The present election is being fought not only for a change of guard, but to determine the future of Tamil culture, heritage and language. The advertisements of the AIADMK claimed that women were safe in the State under its government. “Will the Chief Minister dare to say this at a public meeting in Pollachi,” he asked. Stating that several college girls and working women were sexually exploited and threatened with video clippings in Pollachi, he recalled that even a woman Superintendent of Police was not spared by her own superior officer.
“If the Government was keen to protect women, it should have by now arrested the accused officer,” he said.
If the AIADMK’s claim that its close relationship with the BJP-led Centre was to get more benefits for Tamil Nadu, how come Deputy Chief Minister, O. Pannerselvam, said that the Centre has not given ₹14,500 crore due to the State, he questioned.
