Ramadoss Joins Hands With Sasikala
Chennai: Amid delays in finalizing seat sharing in major alliances in Tamil Nadu and the BJP and NR Congress meeting again in Puducherry after a tussle, two splinter groups that neither of the two grand coalitions wanted to touch with a barge pole joined hands on Friday, setting aside the ‘betrayal credentials’ of the State, which only has people’s welfare in mind.
PMK founder S Ramadoss, whose son Anbumani Ramadoss claimed the party’s official credentials and led a breakaway faction of the party after most of the party functionaries left to be part of the NDA, and VK Sasikala, former aide of J Jayalalihaa who was expelled from the AIADMK, issued a joint statement announcing their alliance.
The unity of Ramadoss, who claims that he still holds the reins of the party he founded but is confined to his home in Thailapuram, and Sasikala, who has christened her party as ‘Anaithindia Puratchi Thalaivar Makkal Munnetra Kazgagm’, has no significance in the electoral politics of the state, where there is a four-cornered contest with Seeman’s Naam Tamilar Katchi and Vijay’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam. (TVK) runs a lonely nest.
The rest of the parties are lined up in two opposing camps where egos and seat demands have temporarily prevented them from burying the hatchets and launching a united campaign for the April 23 elections in Tamil Nadu.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami’s visit to Delhi to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah and finalize the seat-sharing, which is yet to happen, drew ridicule on the other hand, with Minister of State and DMK principal secretary K Nehru pointing out that alliance talks had been moved from the AIADMK headquarters in Chennai to Delhi.
Meeting the media in Delhi before flying back to Chennai on Friday, Palaniswami denied holding talks for an alliance with TVK, ending speculation that a mega alliance would emerge to defeat the ruling DMK and its multi-coloured coalition of around a dozen parties.
DMK was having difficulty meeting the demands of its long-time allies like CPM and VCK, who were already waiting for the alliance leader to come and accept their demands. Similarly, the AIADMK-BJP coalition is also dealing with some stubborn allies.
However, in Puducherry, the NR Congress, after truancy for a while, agreed to stand with the BJP in the elections and did not put pressure on Charles Jose Martin’s demand that Latchya Jananayaga Congress should not be given any importance. Now Martin will have only two seats to contest. Sources said that even the dispute between the Congress and DMK in Puducherry over the leadership of the coalition will be resolved in favor of the Congress.
