CHENNAI: Sharply reacting to the remarks of CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan as to whether Chief Minister MK Stalin has imposed an undeclared emergency in Tamil Nadu, the ruling DMK on Sunday said the CPM leader has expressed his views without realising the fact that such comments have the potential to destabilise the alliance camaraderie between the two parties.
Giving prominence to the response of the DMK to Balakrishnan, the Dravidian major’s party organ ‘Murasoli’ published an article on page 1. Recalling Balakrishnan’s article in CPM organ ‘Theekathir’ six days ago wherein the Left leader admitted that the party had staged protests over numerous issues in the past, the article said,
“The DMK does not react to every word uttered by Balakrishnan. But perhaps Balakrishnan took the silence from the DMK as a sign of weakness. Recently, Balakrishnan had said Periyar’s ideologies have been diluted in the Dravidian parties’ regimes. The police department has been functioning without restraint, etc,” the Murasoli article added.
The CPM leader’s remarks came after the VCK’s differences with the ruling DMK on a few occasions and after the suspension of Aadhav Arjuna, former deputy general secretary of VCK, the issue came to an end. In November last, Balakrishnan went on record saying that the DMK or the AIADMK cannot win elections without the support of allies. Despite that, the Dravidian majors have chosen not to share power, he said.
Significantly, attending the centenary celebrations of veteran CPI leader R Nallakannu recently, Chief Minister MK Stalin took pride in saying that the ties between the Dravidian movement and the Communist movement are above politics and both stood by each other over the past decades.
Also, a day after asking the CM whether he has imposed an undeclared emergency, Balakrishnan, in the very same party meeting, asked the party to relieve him from the party position since he is turning 72 in February. Following this, P Shanmugam was elected as the new state secretary.
Meanwhile, the VCK has submitted a notice to move a calling attention motion during the Assembly session that begins on Monday, to discuss the Anna University sexual assault and the Vengaivayal case which remains unresolved for a long time. Meanwhile, the opposition AIADMK and BJP are also gearing up to raise a host of issues, including complaints about the disbursal of relief to people affected by Cyclone Fengal, law and order issues.
‘Silence is not weakness’
Recalling Balakrishnan’s article in CPM organ ‘Theekathir’ six days ago, an article in ‘Murasoli’ said, “The DMK does not react to every word uttered by Balakrishnan. But perhaps Balakrishnan took the silence from the DMK as a sign of weakness.”