In what could be construed as a veiled invitation to DMDK chief Vijayakant for an alliance, DMK chief M Karunanidhi, on Saturday, called for a united voice against the ruling party for stifling the voice of the opposition in the Assembly.
In a letter to cadre, Karunanidhi outlined a number of incidents, especially the recent suspension of DMDK MLAs, to drive home his point.
He alleged that the ruling party had come to the conclusion that there should be no opposition. Even if there was one, it shouldn’t discharge its duties. Therefore, he called for a united voice against such efforts to shut the opposition.
In a different statement, Karunanidhi suggested that an immediate meeting of the State cabinet be called to adopt a resolution recommending commutation of death sentence for those convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination.
This comes a day after the Supreme Court ruled in the Bhullar case that delay in considering mercy plea cannot be valid grounds to commute death sentence.
“If the State government has to approach the problem truly, it should not just stop after adopting resolutions in the Assembly, but pass a resolution in a cabinet meeting and send it to the Governor,” he said, and added that his party had always been for abolishing the capital punishment.