COIMBATORE : Former Chief Minister and AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday targeted the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) over its tie-up with the BJP for the Lok Sabha election.
“PMK is frequently changing the alliance like the birds visiting the Vedanthangal sanctuary when the lake is filled with water and leaving when the water dries up,” EPS said, comparing its political move to the tactics of fair-weather birds.
EPS was responding to PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss’ statement that the PMK helped the AIADMK win 36 out of 66 constituencies in the last assembly election but the AIADMK didn’t reciprocate by ensuring his party’s victory then.
“I will not answer to those who are changing the alliance frequently. In an earlier interview, PMK founder S Ramadoss had mentioned that he would rate BJP as zero and now they stitched an alliance with the BJP. The PMK is supporting a different party in every election. We never won when the PMK was in our alliance. This was reflected in the elections held in 2019 and 2021,” said EPS while speaking to the reporters at Omalur in Salem.
“The AIADMK is not depending upon any alliance. We will welcome allies if parties show interest to join us and, if not, we will go alone on our own strength. We have implemented various schemes for the people since the party was founded 50 years ago. It has ruled the state for 30 year,” said EPS while speaking at the introductory meeting of AIADMK’s Salem Lok Sabha constituency candidate P Vignesh at the party office in Omalur on Saturday morning.
The former CM directed the AIADMK cadres to work for Vignesh’s victory.
EPS also responded to the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Aravind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as due to pressure from the BJP government out of fear over the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
He refused to comment on the case that landed Kejriwal in jail saying he doesn’t know about the issue (liquor scam) completely.
Responding to ED’ s recent raid on former Health Minister and party colleague Vijayabaskar’s house, EPS charged that DMK is solely responsible for it.
“Tamil Nadu government instigated the DVAC and it has already registered a case against him and based on that the DVAC arrived. When we were ruling Tamil Nadu, the I-T personnel had also conducted a raid. This is not new,” said EPS.
Responding to the BJP State President K Annamalai’s statement that he will not give even one rupee to fetch a vote, EPS said that Annamalai is making such a statement just to create a sensation.
Meanwhile, former AIADMK minister and Thondamuthur MLA SP Velumani on Saturday said that the real fight in the Coimbatore constituency is between only the AIADMK and the DMK as the BJP lacks a substantial vote bank here.
Velumani was speaking at introductory meeting of Coimbatore AIADMK Lok Sabha election candidate Singai G Ramachandran at Chinniyampalayam in the city on Saturday. He further questioned why Annamalai is contesting from Coimbatore instead of Karur.