Oppn in attendance, Stalin proposes Rahul as next PM
POLL BUGLE DMK chief says only Gandhi has the ability to rid the country of a ‘fascist govt’
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) endorsed Congress president Rahul Gandhi as a prime ministerial candidate for next year’s general elections in the presence of top opposition leaders on Sunday, five days after his party registered poll victories in three heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
Opposition leaders, including United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy, were present at the Dravidian party’s headquarters in Chennai for the unveiling of a statue of the late M Karunanidhi, a former chief minister.
Sonia Gandhi unveiled the nine-foot bronze statue, before the leaders addressed a public meeting in Chennai’s Royapettah. “Welcome Rahul Gandhi, give the nation good governance,” MK Stalin, DMK president and Karunanidhi’s son, said at the event that turned out to be yet another display of Opposition unity. “I propose, we will install a new Prime Minister in Delhi. I propose the candidature of Rahul Gandhi from Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Sonia Gandhi, rahul Gandhi’s mother, said India’s democratic values and institutional freedom were under threat, seeking strong ties with the state’s opposition DMK. She praised DMK stalwart Karunanidhi, who died this August, and called him a “democrat to the core”.
“It is my earnest desire that the mutual support of our parties to each other must remain strong and steadfast as when Karunanidhiji was guiding us... and as we wage together a battle with the political forces that are determined to destroy our constitutional values, our institutions and the idea of India as you know it,” she said.
Rahul Gandhi lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (Bjp)-led government at the Centre, accusing it of attacking institutions and stressing that the country will not allow it. “The BJP believes in one idea and is not ready to hear the voices of the people of the nation. So, all the voices have come together, and will definitely dethrone the BJP,” he said.
DMK president Stalin said Rahul Gandhi had the ability to rid the nation of a “fascist government”, which had taken the country back in time. Stalin said his pitch for Rahul Gandhi was in line with Karunanidhi’s invitation to former prime minister Indira Gandhi for a leadership role.
Andhra CM Naidu, whose Telugu Desam Party severed its ties with the BJP earlier this year, said the central government was against the federal structure. “We have not benefited from the BJP’S policies...as the victims of BJP government, we are in a compulsion to stand together...,” said Naidu, who is spearheading a campaign to cobble up an antibjp front.
Tamil Nadu BJP chief Tamilisai Soundararajan tweeted, “Narendra Modi is from humble and simple beginnings and became PM by democracy. Stalin proposes Rahul as PM now. That is dynasty. We are ready to fight the war between democracy and dynasty. In this democratic country only democracy will win.”
Amid a buzz of the ruling AIADMK party’s growing proximity to the BJP, Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said, “It could be Stalin’s wish to make Rahul as PM. However, election results only can say that who will sit where.”