CHENNAI: After lashing out at the Centre over a host of issues in the recent past, Namadhu MGR, official mouthpiece of the ruling AIADMK (Amma), now has posed a question to the BJP: How about a person from Tamil Nadu (read the choice of the AIADMK) as the Vice-President?
This appeared as a poem in the latest issue of the periodical that was published on Saturday, at a time when all political parties are involved in choosing the next presidential candidate.
The poem gave a detailed account of various occasions in the past when the State government had shown patience despite the Centre’s failure to deliver – failure to form Cauvery Management Board and not granting assent to NEET bills were a few among these. Also, laced with a gentle sarcasm, it pointed out the numerous times during which the State government had cooperated with the Centre despite repeated negative responses from the latter – like Uday scheme of the Power Ministry.
Hydrocarbon exploration at Neduvasal and delay in establishing AIIMS, too, found mention in the poem as instances of Centre not factoring in Tamil Nadu’s interest.
Indicating subtly that the people in the State had several grouses against the Centre, the poem said if the BJP was expecting something very important (ostensibly support in presidential election), the State, too, had similar expectations from the Centre.
“In all these incidents, the people are a worried lot. Will the presidential election see a helping hand from the Centre or will it give Vice-President post,” the poem ends with this question.
This assumes significance as Namadhu MGR gives importance to Dhinakaran-related news despite the stand taken by senior leaders of the party to keep him away from the party affairs. Besides, a few days ago, a group of MLAs supporting Dhinakaran had met Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and urged him to let Dhinakaran lead the party while he could take care of the government. They also indicated that their decision on presidential election would depend on the response from the Chief Minister.