There are no inconsistencies in the AIADMK’s ties with the BJP-led Central government, and the ruling party in Tamil Nadu is providing only issue-based support to the national party, AIADMK propaganda secretary and Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha M. Thambi Durai has said.
“Even though we are friendly with the Central government, what we provide is issue-based support. We are not blindly supporting anyone. We have supported them [the BJP] on some occasions. On other occasions, we have opposed them, such as on the GST, the transport bill and the Cauvery issue. Unlike the Janata Dal (United), the AIADMK is not an ally of the BJP. We are not a constituent of the NDA [the National Democratic Alliance, led by the BJP],” Mr. Thambi Durai told the Hindu .
No-confidence motion
When asked why his party, which had supported the ruling dispensation at the Centre during the no-confidence motion which was defeated in the Lok Sabha last July and during the election for the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha in August, strongly opposed the Centre during the debates on bills regarding triple talaq, 10% quota for the poor and the Rafale deal, he said the no-confidence motion was the Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP’s) initiative and not that of the Congress, the principal Opposition party at the national level.
Had all those who supported the motion taken a collective decision at the time of proposing it, the situation would have been different. The purpose of the motion was to demand special status for Andhra Pradesh, “an idea that Amma [former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa] had opposed vehemently,” Mr. Thambi Durai said.
Besides, “we did not want [to] disturb a regime when there was not even one year to go for the completion of the current term of the Lok Sabha,” he said, adding that in the last four years, no move was made by the TDP to introduce such a motion.
As for the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman’s election, the AIADMK’s support was to the candidate of the JD(U), who was also backed by the BJP. “It happens often there. I could also become Deputy Speaker due to the support of the BJP. So, that is not an issue,” he said, pointing out that on the triple talaq issue, the JD(U) chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had openly expressed his party’s opposition.
On quota for poor
On the question of the 10% quota bill, Mr. Thambi Durai said his party had “consistently been advocating reservation for socially and educationally backward classes.” The AIADMK was always against reservation based on economic criteria, he said.
When it was pointed out that no one in his party had asserted that there would be no electoral pact with the BJP, he shot back, saying, “No one has said there would be an understanding with the BJP either.”
When asked whether the 10% quota for the poor would become a major issue at the time of the Lok Sabha election, he said it was difficult to predict how it would play out then. Also, one could not be sure about the mood of the people during the polls, he added.
