The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : AIADMK suits us better than DMK ideologically: Ganesan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 10, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

AIADMK suits us better than DMK ideologically: Ganesan

By S. Vydhianathan

CHENNAI, APRIL 10. The Bharatiya Janata Party national secretary, L. Ganesan, is the public face in Tamil Nadu. A former general secretary of the State unit, he moved to the national unit but still continues to play a dominant role in Tamil Nadu.

In an interview to The Hindu, he talks of the reasons for a change in political realignment in the State and his party's alliance with the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).

Question: Why do you think that your erstwhile allies in the State have left the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)?

L. Ganesan: I think there are two main reasons. Right from the beginning, the DMK planned to work for the 2006 Assembly election. It was ferocious in its attack against the AIADMK both inside and outside the Assembly and wanted us to support its campaign. But the BJP wanted to function as a constructive Opposition. Moreover, the DMK, since its inception or at least from 1967, is mainly depending on minority votes, particularly Muslims. The DMK might have thought that because of its alliance with the BJP, it is losing those votes. They somehow wanted to leave the NDA.

Your party leaders claim that the BJP had grown in Tamil Nadu. Then why do you settle for a fewer number of seats?

It is a fact that we wanted double digit seats but got only seven, including Pondicherry. For any party, the growth should be compared relatively. In the 1998 election the BJP, the MDMK and the PMK were given five seats each. In the next election (1999) the BJP was allotted 6 seats, the MDMK only 5, and the PMK got 8. In the current election the BJP got seven seats, the PMK was allotted six and the MDMK 4. The comparative figures show that we are growing slowly, steadily but surely.

The BJP has been allotted constituencies where its chances are not bright.

I don't consider any seat as not winnable. All the 40 seats are winnable because the people know about the achievements of the NDA Government, particularly the greatness of the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee through the media. At present the 7 seats allotted to the party are winnable.

How do you justify giving tickets to newcomers like P.T. Elangovan (Dharmapuri) and TADA Periyaswami (Chidambaram).

By selecting the candidates who have better winning chances, we have made the constituencies also winnable.

Do you think that the AIADMK is a dependable ally, especially after the BJP's bitter experience in 1998?

We have to learn from experience. The AIADMK withdrew its support in the beginning itself without enjoying power. But what will you say to a party, which enjoyed power for four-and-a-half years and left us in the last hour.

Till now Ms. Jayalalithaa has not said that the AIADMK is part of the NDA.

The question of NDA was not at all discussed by our leadership with the AIADMK. But that will not matter much as far as the election is concerned. We are working in a coordinated way in all the 40 constituencies.

Do you think that this combination will continue till the next Assembly election?

On many aspects the AIADMK suits us better than the DMK, ideologically. Whether it is about Ayodhya, anti-conversion bill or common civil code or cow protection or Prevention of Terrorism Act, or the security of the country, we sail in the same boat. There is no problem. In that way it is a better combination.

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