CHENNAI: Days after PMK founder S Ramadoss shared the stage with senior leaders of the AIADMK and BJP, and announced a mega alliance in Tamil Nadu for the Lok Sabha elections, his son and youth wing chief Anbumani Ramadoss held a press meet on Monday to defend his party’s “relationship status”.
The PMK heir apparent, who had levelled corruption charges against the ruling party and sought the Governor’s intervention, admitted that his party’s prospects were weak without strong alliances.
“Winning without forming alliances is not possible anymore,” he said. “PMK did not get a single seat in 2016 elections despite having a critically acclaimed manifesto.” This alliance, he said, is to retrieve the lost rights of Tamil Nadu. “It’s for the people of the State.”
Anbumani, however, struggled to justify joining hands with a party that he had personally criticised and deemed corrupt. “Age-old enemies SP, and BSP have joined hands. The AAP, which was formed to oppose the Congress, is moving towards them,” he said, trying to justify the PMK’s position.
However, his reasoning that the PMK would be able to achieve its long-standing demands and fulfil its promises by “working from within the alliance” became a point of contention at the press meet and the leader was bombarded with questions. He cited the anti-tobacco legislation, passed by the UPA government in which he was the Health Minister, as an example.
Anbumani Ramadoss kept citing the example of the anti-tobacco legislation, which he pushed through during his tenure as the Health Minister in the UPA government, to explain how his party intends to work in the AIADMK-BJP combine for reform.
“Before the alliance, we submitted our 10 major demands to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and he assured us that he would consider them. It is easier to push for reforms from within the alliance... we will also speak to BJP soon,” he said,
However, his claim that this approach would achieve the party’s demands — some of which are in direct conflict with the policies of a senior alliance partner —evoked a lot of questions from the media.Anbumani was not able to explain how seeking declaration of Cauvery Delta Areas as protected agricultural land and State exemption from NEET — when the Hydrocarbon Project and common entrance for medical admissions were policy decisions taken by the BJP-led NDA — was feasible.
The softened stance against the State Government was another visible effect of the newly-forged alliance. “If there is truth in our allegations, let the Governor act against the State government,” was how Anbumani tried to bridge the party’s earlier stance with its current alliance. He, however, struggled to answer a direct question as to whether he thought the State Government was corrupt or not.