MDMK general secretary Vaiko on Monday said that the New Year would not only see a change of government at the Centre, but may also witness the DMK coming to power even before the Assembly polls are held in Tamil Nadu.
“I do not know whether the bypolls to the 19 Assembly constituencies (apart from Tiruvarur) would be held separately or along with the Lok Sabha polls. The DMK will win most of the Assembly seats and come to power even before the Assembly elections slated for 2021 since the numbers [in the Assembly] will increase in its favour,” he said.
Expressing the hope that the alliance of the Congress and various regional parties would capture power after the Lok Sabha polls, Mr. Vaiko said this would pave the way for regional parties to assume an important role in national politics.
He felt it was not a “hasty decision” on the part of DMK leader M.K. Stalin to propose Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the anti-BJP front.
When asked how he could bring himself to support the Congress, given that he had blamed the party for the ‘decimation’ of Sri Lankan Tamils in the final phase of the Eelam war, Mr. Vaiko said he stood by his criticism of the Congress. “We are in the DMK alliance, and we have no objection to the DMK joining hands with the Congress. Today, the BJP and the Sangh Parivar pose a great threat to democracy and States’ rights,” he said.
He took exception to Law Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam’s comments on Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan in relation to the latter’s testimony before the commission probing former CM Jayalalithaa’s death. “Do not demoralise good officers and force them to leave Tamil Nadu for Central service,” he said.