Chennai: Denying that his party had simultaneously engaged both the Dravidian majors to strike an electoral alliance, DMDK deputy general secretary L. K. Sudeesh revealed that his party had received an invite from the DMK ten days ago. Also, he asserted that alliance talks with the ruling AIADMK had been concluded on Wednesday and a decision would be announced in about two days.
Contending that the DMDK district secretaries Elangovan and Murugesan, had called on DMK treasurer Duraimurugan on Wednesday for personal reasons, Mr. Sudheesh claimed the media had twisted the meeting out of proportion claiming that "we held talks with the DMK."
"We were the first to speak with the BJP leaders when they said we should unite under the leadership of the AIADMK. But we commenced our talks with the AIADMK rather late. And while the talks were on, the AIADMK had signed the seat-sharing pact with the PMK," the DMDK deputy general secretary said.
Following the ruling party pact with PMK, district secretaries of DMDK descended upon the party state headquarters and unanimously expressed their opposition to the AIADMK action. "I conveyed our regret to the BJP and AIADMK leadership and told them that the pact could have been signed at the same time by all the allies," Mr. Sudeesh added.
It was at that juncture the DMDK received an invitation from the DMK inviting DMDK for talks on an alliance if the interaction with the AIADMK had not been satisfactory.
“It is true that Duraimurugan did talk to me. But that was ten days ago and not yesterday as you (media) have wrongly reported. Yesterday, we concluded our talks with the AIADMK leaders at Hotel Trident. We will announce the number of seats and constituencies in two days’ time,” he told reporters here on Thursday.
Sudeesh maintained that he did not expect Mr. Duraimurugan, who had been a good friend of his for years, to give a twist to the meeting of the DMDK secretaries. Asked if Mr. Duraimurugan had lied, Mr. Sudeesh reiterated that the meeting had been personal only and no politics was discussed when Elangovan and Murugesan called on the DMK leader.
“He (Mr. Duraimurugan) has said so many things about his party and leadership. But, unlike him, I will not reveal what he said out of political decency and also because we have been groomed by our captain (DMDK founder Vijayakanth),” he said.
Asked to comment on Duraimurugan’s remark that he didn’t want to disturb DMK president MK Stalin who was taking rest, to discuss with the DMDK delegation, Sudeesh shot back, “They (DMK) are not bothered about anything in Tamil Nadu. They will be sleeping. Why are you asking me? Why should I be concerned if his leader is sleeping or not?”
