CHENNAI: President of TMC (Moopanar) GK Vasan, a well-known Tamil Nadu leader with ideological roots in the Congress, inked a poll pact with the AIADMK on Wednesday for TMC to contest just a single seat in the upcoming parliamentary elections as part of the ruling party’s alliance. This shocked Congress cadre in the State as much as it did TMC cadre. Vasan explained the reasoning behind his decision in a conversation with Express. Excerpts:
Q: Why did you sign a poll pact with the AIADMK?
A: The mindset of all voters across the states, including Tamil Nadu, is oriented towards the well-being of the nation, continued development, growth, safety and unity. Keeping all these factors in mind, TMC formed an alliance with AIADMK.
Q: But BJP is one of the parties in that alliance.
A: Beyond caste, creed, linguistic and cultural differences today we are in the position to safeguard the nation’s safety, integrity and secularism. The current NDA government (at the Centre) has protected these beliefs. So, our first support is to the AIADMK alliance in which BJP is a partner.
Q: Did you explore any other alliance options in this parliamentary election?
A: There is no compulsion to align with any party which does not believe our party’s strength, popularity, cadre base and our work for the general public. We are a regional party with a national outlook. We have clarified on many occasions that we have taken a different path from the Congress long back.
Q: You have been very proud of your cadre base. However, you’ve been given only one Lok Sabha seat to contest from
A: This alliance (AIADMK-TMC) is not based on numbers. It is an alliance of a mindset for interest of the nation and a reflection of the people’s desires.