Chennai, Sep 24 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Minister Nirmal Kumar has accused the DMK and AIADMK of coordinating their campaigns for the upcoming Assembly bypolls, alleging that the two parties decided to field separate candidates to split votes after initially considering a common nominee.
Speaking to reporters, Nirmal Kumar claimed the parties had planned to put up a single candidate before changing course.
He did not provide evidence for the allegation. His remarks come as the two parties prepare to campaign against candidates fielded by the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK).
The minister also alleged that opposition to TVK candidates at campaign events was being organised by DMK and AIADMK. Voters were not rejecting the candidates, he said, accusing the two parties of placing people at public gatherings to raise slogans against them.
Nirmal Kumar linked the bypoll contest to the resignation of AIADMK legislators, claiming they had stepped down because they could no longer accept party leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s actions. He alleged that the AIADMK had decided to align itself with the DMK and said the legislators had done nothing wrong by resigning.
He described Palaniswami’s conduct as a betrayal. The minister did not name the legislators in the remarks reported or specify when the alleged decision to field a common candidate had been made. His account of cooperation between the two opposition parties remains an allegation.
Turning to the consecration work at a temple in Madurai, Nirmal Kumar said members of its board of trustees had carried out their responsibilities independently.
He rejected suggestions that their decisions had been directed by political leaders, saying the trustees had been free to oversee the work.
He also questioned the DMK’s assessment of former finance minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, widely known as PTR. If Rajan had performed well, Nirmal Kumar asked, why had the DMK removed him from the finance portfolio?
He offered the portfolio change as a challenge to the party’s defence of its former minister.
The minister’s comments brought together the bypoll campaign, the AIADMK resignations and the dispute over the Madurai temple work.
His central charge was that the DMK and AIADMK were acting in concert despite contesting the election under their own names.
Neither party has responded to the allegations made by the TVK Minister so far.
–IANS
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