EPS renews call for parties to join AIADMK-led front for dethroning DMK from power

“Dethroning the ‘anti-people’ DMK from power in Tamil Nadu is the sole purpose of the AIADMK-led front and parties having the same objective were welcome to team up with us,” party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said on Monday, renewing his call for a grand alliance.

“The DMK government is in its last lap of its tenure. It will not get returned to power. All like-minded parties opposed the anti-people ruling DMK are welcome to be part of our alliance,” he told reporters at Edappadi, his assembly constituency near Salem city, when asked about BJP state president Nainar Nagegenthran extending an invite to the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) of Vijay to be part of the NDA, headed by the AIADMK. “However, the invitation to the TVK is that of Nainar’s,” he added.

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Interestingly, only the other day, AIADMK deputy general secretary KP Munusamy, a former minister, had launched a broadside against the TVK, debunking Vijay’s claim of the TVK as a party of purity. “How can it be a party of purity when turncoats and rank opportunists are admitted in its ranks?” It is seen as an outburst after the party’s hopes of getting the fledgling TVK on board had vanished and expelled AIADMK leader KA Sengottaiyan joining hands with Vijay. And it was in this context, Nainar had invited the TVK to join the NDA.

After the re-entry of the AIADMK into the NDA, two former partners, O Panneerselvam (OPS) and TTV Dhinakaran (TTV) of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), have deserted the saffron alliance. The OBC Vanniayar dominant Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), which had split, with the father Ramadoss senior heading one faction and his son and former Union Minister Anbumani leading another, is yet to decide on the issue of alliance. Another fence sitter is the DMDK of Premalatha Vijayakanth, which was earlier part of the AIADMK alliance for the 2024 LS poll. On the contrary, the DMK-led INDIA Bloc remains united and coherent.

According to him, the DMK government of MK Stalin had pushed the state into a debt trap due to inefficiency and corruption. The state’s total debt had reached Rs 9.50 lakh crore, the highest in the country, with the DMK government borrowing nearly Rs 5 lakh crore since coming to power, he alleged. However, he demanded that the government give Rs 5000 for every ration card holder as a Pongal gift. “The festival is just 20 days away and the government is yet to make an announcement regarding this. When the AIADMK was in power, we gave Rs 2500 but then the DMK had demanded that it should be Rs 5000. Now, we are demanding the same.”

On the rechristening of MGNREGA scheme as VG-B RAM G and the Union government making states to bear 40 per cent of the financial burden, EPS said, “We are for the retention of the original name. The 39 MPs of the DMK had not exerted the requisite pressure in Parliament on the issue of 40 percent cost to be borne by the States. Mere statements would not do. The AIADMK MPs had stalled Parliament for 22 days over the Cauvery issue.”