NDA in Tamil Nadu will take full shape in a few days: Vasan
Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC Moopanar) president G.K. Vasan on Monday said that the BJPled National Democratic Alliance in Tamil Nadu would take full shape in a couple of days.
Speaking to reporters in Chennai, he said that former AIADMK coordinator O. Panneerselvam, who was holding seatsharing talks with the BJP for the Lok Sabha poll, would add strength to the alliance.
The TMC held its general council meeting on Monday, and officebearers were elected to the council, Mr. Vasan said. He had met BJP national president J.P. Nadda in New Delhi on Sunday.
Taking a dig at the Opposition, he said that the INDIA bloc was full of contradictions, which had come to light with Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee announcing candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal, and the Communist Party of India announcing that it would go it alone in Jharkhand.
Mr. Vasan said that the Opposition was politicising the electoral bonds issue and the resignation of Election Commissioner Arun Goel. However, vote bank politics would not bear fruit, he said.
“Mr. Goel resigned for personal reasons, and I am hopeful that the Centre would name a replacement as per the law,” he said.
Drug menace
Mr. Vasan said that the DMK government was not able to curb the drug menace in the State. The argument that the issue was being politicised would not be accepted by the people, and the voters were following the issue closely, he said.
“This issue is beyond politics, and those involved [in drug trafficking] should be punished. The police and the Enforcement Directorate are dutybound to bring out the truth about the involvement of influential people,” he added.
The TMC leader also urged the State government to grant people additional time to repay loans availed from cooperative banks in the floodaffected southern districts.
Meanwhile, All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi founder and actor R. Sarathkumar, who had extended support to the BJP, met its State president K. Annamalai, Union Ministers G. Kishan Reddy and General (retd.) V.K. Singh, and national coincharge for Tamil Nadu Arvind Menon at Kamalalayam, the BJP’s headquarters.
Mr. Sarathkumar told journalists that seatsharing talks would be finalised in a couple of days.