Bomb blasts worked in favour of BJP, says Moopanar

On the future of the TMC-DMK combine, he said party men had to be cousulted before taking a decision. When the Congress split to form the TMC it was not with victory in view, he asserted.

Asserting that he respected the people’s verdict, he said the people had decided that the United Front would not be able to provide a stable government at the Centre. He however added that had the people just voted for stability, then the BJP would have won a majority enabling it to form a government on its own.

With neither the BJP, nor the Congress securing a majority to formthe government at the Centre on its own, his predictions of a hung Parliament had come true. The stability factor had been used by the AIADMK to their advantage, he added.

He said he had suspected defeat in about seven or eight constituencies but the party had lost in nine constituencies which they had hoped to win.

The upsets in Madurai, Ramanthapuram, Tiruchi, Dindigul, Palani, Krishnagiri, Arakkonam, Cuddalore and Rasipuram were shocking, he said.

To a question on whether the DMK government’s protection to even extremists among the minorities had affected the electoral fortunes of the combine, the TMC president said that he had always held that the minorities should be protected.

The death of 60 persons in the bomb blasts had definitely had its impact and created a sympathy in favour of the BJP, he added.

Reiterating that he will not stand by fundamentalism, he said the government had acted after the Coimbatore blasts but it must act more strongly.

Yet another factor was theanti-establishment votes. However well a government performed there was always a section of voters who voted against the government, he said.

The BJP which had performed well in other states had lost in the states were it ruled, he pointed out. To a question on whether he regretted not having accommodated the CPM and the Janata Dal in the issue, he said that it had indeed affected the TMC’s performance in Madurai.

(Interestingly, state Janata Dal president G A Vadivelu was among those waiting to meet Moopanar at the Satyamurthy Bhavan on Tuesday).

On whether Jayalalitha’s sweep could be taken to mean that the corruption issue had outlived its importance in the minds of the voters, he said that in his campaign he never raked up the issue.

He had only pointed out that those who had spoken about corruption had now joined hands with former chief minister and AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalitha.

The verdict could not be taken as the vindication of corruption charges against the former chiefminister.