Stalin tells partymen to get poll-ready
CHENNAI:DRAVIDA Munnetra Kazhagam(dmk) working president and party patriarch M Karunanidhi’s son MK Stalin on Friday exhorted his party workers to get ready for the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly elections although political observers said chances of a snap poll in the state look bleak despite uncertainty surrounding the current administration. Stalin was in Srirangam near Trichy and spoke to party workers and locals seeking their cooperation in helping the DMK gain power by unseating the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
Responding to Stalin’s remarks, RS Bharathi, Rajya Sabha member and organisation secretary of DMK, said, “We understand there are differences of opinion between chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) and his deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam (ops) in leading the party. Apart from this, the outcome of 18 MLAS disqualification case is pending. If the judgment comes in favour of the disqualified MLAS, the Palaniswami government will fall.”
Bharathi added that in case the judgment was in favour of the speaker’s decision disqualifying the MLAS, who owe allegiance to TTV Dhinakaran, then the party would win “all 18 seats through elections”. Either way, he said, the government would go. This is the third time in a week that Stalin has indicated the possibility of a change in government.
Bharathi said there is a strong possibility that the state assembly election would be held along with Lok Sabha elections even though the assembly’s term is until 2021.
But RM Babu Murugavel, spokesperson for AIADMK, said, “CM EPS and the deputy CM OPS have clarified there are no differences between them. Also, both of them consult each other before taking decisions within the government and the party.”
A Marx, a senior political analyst from Chennai, said the government is unlikely to go. “The AIADMK government completely toes the line of the Union government in its every decision. So, I don’t think it will fall soon. However, there are chances for holding the legislative assembly polls along with the Lok Sabha election in 2019,” he said.
In his speech, Stalin urged the people of Tamil Nadu to vote for a secular front to rule the nation.