No poll pact with BJP: Dhinakaran

Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran on Saturday denied that his party has softened its stand towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“The AMMK would continue to fight against communal forces. It will never opt for any electoral understanding with the BJP,” he said speaking to reporters at the Tiruchi airport here. The AMMK, he said, had been following secular principles on the footsteps of the former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.

To a question, Mr. Dhinakaran said that the AIADMK government had been foisting cases against those agitating for the Cauvery Management Board (CMB). Cases had been registered against him and his party cadre in Tiruchi, Salem and Dharmapuri. But the government could not stifle the voice of dissent through such action, he added.

Asked why the AMMK was organising solitary protests on the Cauvery issue, he said there was nothing wrong in opposition parties staging protests independently. The common goal was to force the Centre to constitute the CMB, he said.

In a statement, Mr. Dhinakaran said the Centre should make “strong arguments” before the Supreme Court in its review petition on the case concerning the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.