CHENNAI/MADURAI: DMDK seems to be the last significant piece in the battle for allies between the two Dravidian majors. DMK president MK Stalin and actor Rajinikanth visited DMDK chief Vijayakanth at his Saligramam residence in Chennai on Friday. Though both of them claimed there was “no political agenda” and their visits were only to enquire about the health of Vijayakanth, who is recuperating following medical treatment at the USA, speculations were rife of a contest to win the DMDK’s support.
Interestingly, BJP president Amit Shah, who was visiting the State on Friday, held two rounds of discussions with AIADMK leadership on accommodating DMDK in their alliance and allocating seats to them. Addressing the media later in the evening, the saffron party’s State president Tamilisai Soundararajan said: “DMDK will soon join our alliance. Vijayakanth has great respect for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
Rajinikanth, however, said his meeting with Vijayakanth was purely based on friendship and there was nothing political. “He was the first person to visit me when I was returned from my medical treatment in Singapore. It was a friendly call. We did not discuss politics,” the actor said, addressing the press after the 20-minute meeting. Stalin, who made is visit later in the day, also sent out a similar message about the meeting.
“He is my friend for the last 35 years. He had great liking and respect for our leader M Karunanidhi. He had sent a tribute message when he heard about the demise of our leader. In fact, he went straight from the airport to his memorial to pay respects as soon as he returned to the city.
Hence, I visited him to convey my regards and enquire about his health,” said MK Stalin after his 15-minute-long meeting with Vijayakanth in the presence of the latter’s wife Premalatha and brother-in-law LK Sudhish. Addressing the media finally, Premalatha exuded confidence in the power that DMDK still believes it holds. “We know our strength and vote share. Alliance talks will come to an end within a week,” she said.
AMIT SHAH’S SPECIAL INTEREST
Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and BJP president Amit Shah held two rounds of talks on Friday to discuss the stand of DMDK. The first meeting happened at Madurai airport in the morning. It has been learnt that Shah advised OPS to find ways to seal the deal with DMDK. The duo also, reportedly, discussed about the seats to be given to the BJP. Minister Sellur K Raju, Madurai MP Gopalakrishnan, BJP State President Tamilisai Soundararajan, and BJP’s national general secretary Muralidhara Rao were also present at the meeting.
The second meeting happened after Shah’s visit to Ramanathapuram. Panneerselvam again met the BJP president at the Madurai airport. Sources say the duo discussed Vijayakanth’s meeting with Stalin. Addressing reporters later, Panneerselvam said alliance talks with DMDK would be completed within the next couple of days. When asked about Stalin’s meeting with Vijayakanth, he said:”Stalin himself agreed it wasn’t political. We will seal the deal in a couple of days.”
DMDK invites applications
The party has invited applications from its cadre to contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Sale of applications would commence on February 24 at 11 am at the party headquarters in Koyambedu. The fee is `20,000 for general constituencies and `10,000 for reserved constituencies. Applications have to be submitted by March 3.