PMK joins hands with Jaya; no big deal for NDA

CHENNAI, FEB 6: In a move which could disturb the delicately-placed political scene in Tamil Nadu, the PMK, a constituent of the NDA, toda...

CHENNAI, FEB 6: In a move which could disturb the delicately-placed political scene in Tamil Nadu, the PMK, a constituent of the NDA, today pulled out of the Alliance and joined the Jayalalitha-led AIADMK front for the coming Assembly polls.

Squarely blaming the DMK for PMK’s decision to quit the NDA, PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss said, “I am parting company with the Prime Minister A B Vajpayee, with a heavy heart. I have not seen a perfect gentleman like him so far.”

However, PMK’s withdrawal from the NDA would not in any way affect the Vajpayee Ministry, he told reporters here after meeting AIADMK chief Jayalalitha.

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He said his party had “no differences” with other parties in the NDA. But he lashed out at the DMK, alleging that the party as leader of the NDA in the state wanted to supress the PMK. “While my big brother M Karunanidhi seeks to destroy us, my sister Jayalalitha wishes to be our friend.”

Flaying Karunanidhi, he accused the DMK chief of being responsible for the rift between the PMK and the Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress (TRC), led by “my friend” and former union minister Vazhapadi K Ramamurthy.

Ramadoss said the DMK had adopted “delaying tactics” in settling the dispute between the PMK and the TRC and did not convene any NDA meeting for the past one year in the state. “If only Karunanidhi had acted in time, the differences between the PMK and TRC would have been solved,” he said.

He said when the two PMK Ministers submitted their resignation yesterday, Vajpayee had told them that they should continue, irrespective of the PMK’s alliance in Tamil Nadu. “But I told him that I cannot adopt two standards, one for the centre and another for Tamil Nadu,” he said.

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Asked when PMK would start seat-sharing talks with the AIADMK, he said, “I have left everything regarding this to my sister Jayalalitha. I firmly believe that she will render justice to PMK.”

Asked about the “inconsistent stand” of the PMK, which was an ally of the AIADMK in the 1998 Lok Sabha polls and of the DMK in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls, he said PMK never had any alliance with any major party for the Assembly polls. “It is for the first time, we have entered into alliance with a major party, AIADMK, for the Assembly polls,” he said.

He said his party had no objection to be in the company of the Congress and TMC.

When pointed out that he had often described the Congress as enemy number one’ and the TMC, “as a force not to reckon with”, Ramadoss said, “In politics, there is no permanent friend or foe.”