DMDK treasurer Premalatha Vijaykanth addresses a party meeting in Chennai. Ratcheting up pressure on alliance partner AIADMK, DMDK treasurer Premalatha Vijayakanth said her party can clinch 10-15 per cent of the vote share if they contest alone.
Addressing a party meeting in T Nagar on Sunday, Premalatha said: “It is not a bigger deal for DMDK to contest alone in all the 234 constituencies. Functionaries have been appointed in all the constituencies, if Captain (Vijayakanth) decides, it will take less than a second to announce our candidates. However, respecting the alliance Dharma we are waiting patiently. But, I am here to say you all that there is a limit to our patience as well.”
Premalatha has been locking horns with her alliance partners over a seat-sharing for the upcoming assembly elections. With senior ally AIADMK, Premalatha has been upset over the delay in announcing the seats.
Less than a week after her controversial remark against Edappadi K Palaniswami was not elected Chief Minister by people but by his own party, DMDK treasurer once took an aggressive route and said they are not far from contesting alone in the upcoming election in Tamil Nadu.
Addressing a party meeting in T Nagar on Sunday, Premalatha said their party can get up to 10-15 per cent vote share if they contest alone. She even said that her party expects AIADMK to allocate 41 seats, similar to the deal her outfit struck with the ruling party in 2011 polls. Her support to expelled AIADMK leader VK Sasikala also irked AIADMK leaders, but she later clarified that she only expressed solidarity as a woman.
She has also been a staunch critic of another alliance partner, Pattali Makkal Katchi’s demand of 20 per cent internal reservation.
A string of poor performances in elections has put DMDK at the risk of losing the state party recognition. The party secured 29 seats in the 2011 elections and positioned itself as the state’s main opposition party, but lost its way over the years. In the recently held Lok Sabha elections, it hit a new low by securing just 2.19 per cent of the vote share in the state.
The party has to secure 8 per cent or more of the total votes polled in the state in the upcoming assembly election or else it will lose it’s Murusu (Drum) symbol.
