CHENNAI: “DMK wouldn’t have won 10 seats if not for its alliance with Congress, VCK, and IUML,” TVK leader and Minister Aadhav Arjuna said as a war of words over political alliances broke out in the Assembly on Monday.
“You are now sitting in the Opposition because of the Left parties, VCK, Congress, and IUML,” he said. As Arjuna challenged DMK to win 50 seats on its own, DMK leaders hit back, saying the party’s former allies are the reason for TVK forming the government.
DMK MLAs Govi Chezhian, E V Velu and K N Nehru spoke out to respond to him. The exchange began during a discussion on DMK’s role in empowering the Dalits. Former higher education minister Govi Chezhiaan, referring to Congress MLA and Higher Education Minister Vishwanathan, said it was DMK that had helped him, a Dalit, win from the general constituency of Melur.
Responding on behalf of its ally (Congress), Arjuna said DMK often claimed that its alliance partners, including Congress, VCK, and IUML, won elections because of the Dravidian major. “DMK would not have won 10 seats had it not been for its tie-up with Congress, VCK, and IUML,” he said.The minister claimed that alliances contributed around 15% to DMK’s vote share and added that Muslim voters in Chennai had backed DMK because of the alliance. He then challenged DMK to contest an election on its own and win 50 seats.
Nehru, meanwhile, turned the argument back on TVK, saying its government was functioning with the support of parties that had earlier been in alliance with DMK. If TVK had so much pride in its electoral victory, it should let DMK’s former allies leave, he said. Arjuna responded that every party had its own identity and was free to decide whom it wanted to ally with after an election. “We are not anyone’s slaves,” he said, objecting to DMK’s “dominant mindset” of claiming that its alliance partners won only because of DMK.
The argument then went into whether DMK had ever contested an election entirely on its own and won, with DMK members in turn questioning their former allies, particularly Congress.
