Not under pressure to accept Dhinakaran, we came together to defeat DMK, says Palaniswami

AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday said that his party was not under pressure to accept AMMK led by T T V Dhinakaran into the NDA but both came together with a common goal of dislodging the DMK.

AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday said that his party was not under pressure to accept AMMK led by T T V Dhinakaran into the NDA but both came together with a common goal of dislodging the DMK. He asserted that the AIADMK would win 210 seats in the upcoming Assembly election to Tamil Nadu and form the next government with comfortable majority. ''We agreed to the alliance as we wanted to defeat the DMK. We were not under pressure. The anti-people government ought to be removed,'' the former chief minister said while participating in a discussion at the NDTV Tamil Nadu summit, here. He claimed that chief minister M K Stalin ''deliberately'' criticised the NDA as he did not have the courage to oppose the AIADMK. ''He is trying to create confusion by dragging the NDA, which is a nationwide alliance. But in Tamil Nadu, it is the AIADMK that is heading the NDA. People have decided that AIADMK will come to power in Tamil Nadu,'' Palaniswami said. ''Our aim is to fulfil the dream of Amma (late chief minister J Jayalalithaa),'' he said. The Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly claimed that there was ''a war of views'' in the DMK camp as the Congress expected a share in power if the alliance won the election. ''We don't know if the DMK-Congress alliance will last,'' Palaniswami said on the rumbling for a share in power among a section of Congress members in the state. He claimed that people in the state wanted an end to the family politics in Tamil Nadu. As far as the AIADMK was concerned, Jayalalithaa proved what good governance is. The DMK went to the court levelling corruption allegations of Rs 4,500 crore against him in the highways projects. He fought the case and proved that he was innocent, Palaniswami replied to a question related to the DMK accusing his party of being ''corrupt.'' Retorting to the ''washing machine'' analogy of Stalin, Palaniswami said the DMK was the only government in India's history to have been dissolved for corruption. He alleged that there was corruption in all sectors in the DMK government. Stalin frequently uses the washing machine analogy as a political jibe targeting the BJP of cleaning corrupt individuals joining its party or alliance. On actor-politician Vijay's entry into politics, the AIADMK chief said he started his political party (Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam), and was dependent entirely on his fans. ''It has been 51 years since we came to politics, I have contested 10 elections. I know clearly, every issue in Tamil Nadu,'' Palaniswami emphasised.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)