The Hindu : PMK also leaves NDA to join DMK front

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 13, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

PMK also leaves NDA to join DMK front

By S. Vydhianathan and R.K. Radhakrishnan

The PMK founder-leader, S. Ramadoss, and the party president, G. K. Mani (left), calling on the DMK chief, M. Karunanidhi, at the DMK headquarters in Chennai on Monday. — Photo: S. Thanthoni

CHENNAI, JAN. 12. The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) today decided to quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government at the Centre led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and join the ``progressive front'' headed by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu.

This was announced by its founder, S. Ramadoss, at a press conference after a meeting of the party's political affairs committee here.

The PMK is the third and last constituent in Tamil Nadu to quit the NDA, after the DMK and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetera Kazhagam.

The two PMK Ministers, N.T. Shanmugam and A.K. Moorthy, will submit their resignations to the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in New Delhi tomorrow or the day after.

Explaining the reason for party's decision, Dr. Ramadoss said though the coming election was for the Lok Sabha, it would virtually be a referendum against the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Government's rule in the last two and a half years.

Describing the AIADMK rule as ``anti-people, anti-farmer, and anti-democratic'', he said that party was making sustained efforts to annihilate Dravidian traditions. Tamil Nadu, which was in the forefront of the social justice and self-respect movement, was being pushed back by the AIADMK Government and any further continuation of its rule would spell the doom of Tamils' self-respect in the State.

To stop this ``dangerous trend,'' it was imperative to defeat the AIADMK in the coming election. This was the compulsion of the times. As the PMK felt that votes against the AIADMK should be mobilised without allowing any split, the party decided to join the DMK front. The defeat of the AIADMK was also the aspiration of the people of Tamil Nadu and the PMK wanted to fulfil it, Dr. Ramadoss said.

Moreover, the BJP, he said, was trying to revive its alliance with the AIADMK even after its bitter experience in the past. This was testified to by the NDA convener, George Fernandes, who announced that talks with the AIADMK would begin soon. As this was against the wishes of people in the State, the PMK, he said, had no option but to quit the alliance.

However, Dr. Ramadoss gave a clean chit to the NDA rule which, he said, had not deviated from the National Agenda for Governance, though the PMK was unhappy over Tamil not being made a classical and official language and the failure to provide constitutional guarantee for reservation. ``We are parting as friends.''

Later, Dr. Ramdoss and senior PMK men drove to the DMK headquarters, Anna Arivalayam, and met the president, M. Karunanidhi. The senior DMK leaders, K. Anbazhagan, Arcot N. Veerasamy, Durai Murugan and M.K. Stalin, were present during the short meeting.

Dr. Ramadoss said the progressive front would win all 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

Mr. Karunanidhi promised that seat sharing would be based on a ``broad principle and not fraud principle'', and said whoever contested on behalf of the secular front would win. He agreed with the spirit of the PMK resolution on advancement of elections. In his view, no new situation emerged of late warranting early polls.

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