Jayalalithaa sounds poll bugle; seeks rout of DMK, Cong

Seeking a complete rout of archrival DMK and Congress in the coming Lok Sabha polls for “betraying the people” of Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa announced a ‘whirlwind’ campaign to ensure AIADMK wins all 40 seats. Addressing party supporters in Kothagiri after paying tribute to AIADMK founder and former matinee idol M.G. Ramachandran on the occasion of his 97th birth anniversary, the party supremo hit out at DMK and its chief M. Karunanidhi, saying her mentor had floated the party primarily to root them out.

“I request you to work with the aim to ensure that DMK and Congress, who have been constantly betraying the people of Tamil Nadu, do not get a single seat in the coming Lok Sabha elections,” said Ms. Jayalalithaa, who has been camping in nearby Kodanadu in the hilly Nilgiris district and discharging her official duties from there in the past few weeks. Accusing Mr. Karunanidhi of doing little for the state’s benefit and showing scant regard for the Sri Lankan Tamils, she said he had for “namesake” used the issue to walk out of Congress-led UPA last year. But he had approached the former ally for its support to ensure the election of his daughter Ms. Kanimozhi to Rajya Sabha the same year, she said adding this showed he still “hobnobbed” with Congress.

If he really had concerns for Tamils, his party should have quit the UPA alliance in 2008, when India provided military assistance to Sri Lanka in its fight against rebel LTTE, or the next year when hostilities peaked, resulting in increased civilian Tamils casualty, she said. Instead, he had only enacted a “drama” by staging a fast seeking ceasefire “for three hours”, she said about his hunger strike at Marina, which drew flak from various quarters. With the DMK now out of Congress alliance it will try to defend itself saying the party was not the reason for the “anti-Tamil” policies, she said adding AIADMK workers have to be vigilant about this.

She exhorted them to go door-to-door and explain her party’s achievements in its two-and-a-half years in office. “You should work hard day and night with the sole aim of ensuring the party nominees’ win by large margins. I will also be joining you by undertaking whirlwind campaign,” she said.

The AIADMK supremo also slammed Congress accusing the party-led UPA Government of working against Tamil Nadu’s interest on issues like the Cauvery stand-off, Mullaperiyar Dam row, fishermen arrests and Katchatheevu. Whether it be the Sri Lankan Tamils issue or other domestic ones like allocating additional power to the state, “Union Congress government has been working against the people of Tamil Nadu,” she charged. Central government was “pro-industrialist” and its “wrong economic policies,” had resulted in overall price rise and inflation, she charged while alleging farm sector had also been affected.

Earlier, Ms. Jayalalithaa paid floral tributes to a portrait of late Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran and also released a souvenir to mark the occasion. Over 7000 cadres from other parties joined AIADMK in her presence, a party release said.