CHENNAI: DMDK’s deputy general secretary L K Sudhish is confident that his party will prove its strength in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls though the actor-turned-politician Vijayakanth’s party had recorded only a below-average performance in the last two elections. His optimism was to the fore, all through his chat with TNIE. 

Following are excerpts of the interview with Sudhish:

Q: Initially, your party claimed itself as an alternative to the DMK and AIADMK and contested alone in the polls. But why did you dilute that stand by forming an alliance with the AIADMK in 2011 Assembly polls?

A: It is true that our leader Vijayakanth formed the party since both DMK and AIADMK did not address the concerns of the people. But in 2011, there was a need to defeat the DMK in the Assembly elections because of the atrocities committed by that party during its rule. Since we independently did not have the vote share to fulfil the need, we allied with the AIADMK and defeated the DMK.

Q: If your alliance with the AIADMK was successful, why did you come out of it?

A: There were various reasons and I don’t want to discuss them now.

Q: In 2016, your party led the People’s Welfare Alliance as a third alternative. Why do you think the experiment failed?

A: It is PWA which approached us to head the alliance and we accepted it. But only later we realised that there was no chemistry among the alliance partners.

Q: Do you think there is chemistry in the present alliance led by the AIADMK?

A: Yes, we feel that the chemistry in the present alliance is getting better each and every day. Not just functionaries, even cadre feel very comfortable about the present alliance.

Q: Do you believe that your party’s vote share is still secure?
A: Of course, we have a stable vote share. We will prove this in the coming parliamentary elections.