Day after ‘cross-voting’ in Pudukkottai hurt opposition, crack in DMK-Congress alliance widens
CHENNAI/PUDUKKOTTAI: The crack in the DMK and Congress alliance further widened on Sunday after KMDK leader ER Easwaran slammed Congress leaders for airing their differences over rural local body seat sharing in public. This comes in the wake of cross-voting in the indirect polls to the rural local body heads, which gave the ruling AIADMK more district and panchayat union chairpersons although the opposition alliance had more councillors.
In Pudukkottai, alleged cross-voting handed the district panchayat president post to AIADMK, despite DMK having 11 councillors and Congress two in the 22 wards.
On Saturday, DMK was shocked when AIADMK’s Jayalakshmi became district panchayat president with 12 votes while DMK’s Kalaivani got only 10 votes. It is believed two Congress councillors and one DMK councillor cross-voted, especially after Congress won the vice president post, which it had sought, despite DMK’s candidate being in the fray.
The DMK has remained mum even two days after Congress leaders KS Alagiri and KR Ramasamy made a joint press statement airing their disappointment over not being allocated enough seats in the polls, with party spokespersons refusing to comment. However, Easwaran, leader of a minor ally, took direct aim at the Congress while speaking to reporters at the DMK headquarters in Chennai.
“Even in the Kongu region, Congress functionaries did not cooperate (with other parties in the alliance),” he charged, adding that Congress leaders must first investigate how their own party members functioned before making statements.
Poll strain
The Congress statement on Friday was the first sign of strain in its four-year alliance with the DMK. While sporadic criticisms have been made by second-rung leaders over the years, it is clear that recent rural local body polls in 27 districts has caused problems. In fact, in certain districts, Congress functionaries openly declared that they were breaking from the DMK alliance and contested alone.
When contacted, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president Alagiri, told Express the “chapter was already closed”. “I don’t want to open it again,” he said. Congress floor leader Ramasamy, however, was less restrained. “He (KMDK leader Easwaran) is speaking without knowing the facts. However, there are no problems between DMK and Congress. The alliance is workly smoothly,” he said.
Delta leaders unhappy
While Alagiri had made similar remarks on Saturday as well, some second-rung DMK leaders in the Delta region expressed their unhappiness over Friday’s statement, pointing out that Congress winners did cross-party voting during the indirect polls on Saturday as a result of which the DMK lost the Pudukkottai district panchayat and Annavasal union.
Congress’s Pudukkottai district president Dharma Thangavel swore that the party’s councillors had not engaged in cross voting. “We only asked for the vice-president post. Until we entered the hall for voting, we were in touch with DMK leaders asking for the post but they refused,” he said.
“Our two councillors voted for the DMK’s district panchayat president candidate. But in the vice-president election, AIADMK councillors supported us,” he said, complaining that from the start DMK had not shared enough seats with Congress.
“Even when some seats were allotted for Congress, the DMK men contested as independents. As per our state president’s statement, DMK did not give Congress even one district panchayat president post,” he said.
Senior DMK leader KK Chellapandian in Pudukkottai said the district members had sent a report to the party high command. “Whatever action our leader takes we will abide,” he said.
Asked about the Congress complaints on seat-sharing, he pointed out that DMK cadre in Pudukkottai district had helped three Congress MPs — Su Thirunavukkarasar, Karti Chidambaram and Jothimani — win in the Lok Sabha elections. “When Congress was given three MPs from the same district, why can’t they give in for the district panchayat president posts?” he asked.
Much-needed ally
With the Congress at one of its lowest strengths in Parliament, it remains heavily dependent on the DMK for support on various national issues, raising the question of how much the national party can afford to antagonise the Dravidian major.
Election for VP post postponed after tussle among DMK councillors
Tiruchy: A tussle broke out among DMK councillors in Manapparai Union after one of
the councillor decided to contest for vice-president post against the party’s proposed councillor. Supporters of a few councillors barged into the polling area. As a result, the indirect election was postponed. However, the party’s plan of electing a third councillor also went in vain as the aspirant councillor remained adamant.
“Our party won the majority and we proposed a particular councillor. However, a new nomination created confusion. We tried negotiating, but both the parties were not satisfied and the situation went out of hand,” a source said.
TN now a training ground for terrorists, says Ponnar
Ariyalur : Former BJP Union Minister of State Pon Radhakrishnan has said Tamil Nadu has become a training ground for terrorists. He was speaking on the sidelines of the BJP district president election and announcement event held on Sunday at a private wedding hall in Ariyalur. Radhakrishnan said, “Tamil Nadu has become a training ground for terrorists. Muslim terrorists based in Tamil Nadu have been arrested in several places, including Kerala, Gujarat and New Delhi, apart from arrests in Tamil Nadu. The State government should take measures to control this,” he said.
He added he has been voicing this allegation since when J Jayalalithaa was Chief Minister.