DMDK, MDMK on same page in backing NDA

Making a strong pitch for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the coming Lok Sabha polls, Premalatha, wife of the DMDK's founder-leader Vijayakant has warned against ‘vested interests’ conspiring to cause a rift in the NDA in Tamil Nadu.

Campaigning for Eswaran, DMDK candidate, which is part of the BJP-front at Rishivandhiyam, Ms Premalatha said that the NDA had been constituted as per the wishes of the people. However, certain motivated persons were out to cause disquiet among its constituent parties.

Therefore, she called upon the supporters to be wary of such subversive elements and work in unison for the victory of the NDA in the State. Referring to the criticism that Mr Vijayakant hardly visits the Rishivandhiyam constituency, which elected him as an MLA in the 2011 Assembly polls, Ms Premalatha countered how many times did DMK leader M.Karunanidhi and AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa visit their Thiruvarur and Srirangam constituencies respectively.

Ms. Premalatha charged the officials with neglecting the Rishivandhiyam constituency simple because the people voted for Mr Vijayakant. The ruling party men were also putting hurdles in the way of implementing the schemes in the constituency, she said.

Lashing out at Panruti Ramachandran, who recently quit the DMDK and joined the AIADMK, Ms. Premalatha said that such was the ‘gratitude’ Mr Ramachandran showed to the ‘Captain’ (Mr Vijayakant) who had brought him out of political hibernation and had given him an elevated position in the party.

Alliance rationale

In Chennai on Friday evening, MDMK general secretary Vaiko said though he did not agree with the BJP on all issues, he had joined hands with that party to defeat the Congress, DMK and the AIADMK in the Lok Sabha polls.

Campaigning for the DMDK’s Chennai North candidate, M. Soundarapandian, the MDMK leader recalled what he (Vaiko) had spoken and how he had voted against the Bill on common civil code in Parliament.

Mr. Vaiko said he was requested by late Pramod Mahajan to abstain from voting if he was against the Bill. “But I argued against the Bill and voted against it,” he said.

The MDMK leader said the Congress-led UPA government was responsible for many scams in the country including the 2-G spectrum scam.

“The Congress-DMK combine is also responsible for killing thousands of Tamils in Sri Lanka,” he alleged. Mr. Vaiko also condemned the attack on the PMK’s Dharmapuri candidate Anbumani Ramadoss’ vehicle on Thursday night.