Chennai: A day after DMDK leader Vijayakanth lambasted DMK as a corrupt party, DMK chief M. Karunanidhi on Monday insisted that his party was still in talks with the actor’s party and expressed hope that an alliance would fructify.
“Alliance negotiations are on with DMDK. I haven’t lost hope. I cannot say at what month or date, they will come. I also cannot say the date of announcement (of DMK-DMDK alliance). They may come”, he told reporters after chairing the DMK district secretaries meeting at party headquarters here.
Mr Karunanidhi’s optimism surprised the DMDK functionaries and irked the other rival party leaders. “Only yesterday did our Captain blast them (DMK) as corrupt and now Karunanidhi still says we are talking to his party. We are not aware of any such talks”, said a DMDK senior. He did not want to be named, saying it was up to his party leader to react to the DMK chief’s claim.
MDMK leader Vaiko, who is also the convener of the People’s Welfare Alliance (PWA), was addressing a protest demonstration when the media asked him to comment on Mr Karunanidhi’s claim.
“He is being fed wrong information by people around him or he himself wants to put out wrong information. In any case, this only shows to what extent the DMK alliance has become weak”, Vaiko said.
Releasing DMDK manifesto on Sunday, Vijayakanth accused both the DMK and the AIADMK of ‘high-level corruption’ while in power and asked the voters to reject them both in the May 16 state polls.
“I am fighting against corruption. I shall deliver to you what both these parties have not bothered to do all these 50 years. You have voted for DMK and AIADMK and you must have come to know about them”, he said, in a speech telecast by Captain TV, his party’s channel. He ended saying, “Both parties (DMK and AIADMK) are deceiving people; so don’t vote for them”.
After the district secretaries meeting at Anna Arivalayam, Karunanidhi told reporters that talks were still on with DMDK and expressed hope that Vijayakanth would join his party's alliance. “Either people around Kalaignar are providing him with wrong information or he should be deliberately misleading his district secretaries,” he said, wondering why he or his son M. K. Stalin failed to reply to Vijayakanth wife Premalatha's strong remarks against the DMK recently. He also criticised MMK for joining the DMK alliance after attempts to join AIADMK front failed.
Interestingly, after Vijayakanth announced his decision to contest Assembly polls on his own, PWA leaders had been holding talks with DMDK to convince him to join their front. CPI secretary R. Mutharasan indicated a breakthrough in alliance talks between PWA and DMDK at a rally at Valluvar Kottam on Monday.
“We are going to eat fruit with milk. Tamil Nadu is going to witness a new political scene soon,” he said in an apparent reference to a comment by Karunanidhi.
After holding the first round of seat-sharing talks with CPI (M), CPI and VCK at his residence at Annanagar here on Sunday, Vaiko had said they were hopeful of Vijayakanth accepting their invitation to join their alliance.
Meanwhile, PWA leaders continue to nurse hopes that Captain will join their team. “Our invitation to Vijayakanth remains. It was not made out of fear (of defeat) and opportunism but to ensure that the people have a good alternative”, said VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan shortly after Mr Karunanidhi's claim that his DMK was still in talks with the DMDK.
At the DMK district secretaries' meet in the morning, held to elicit their views on poll strategy, most of the participants told the party leadership that they were ready to face the polls even without the DMDK alliance. A few had said they were not opposed to the party resuming negotiation with the DMDK, sources said.
