The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Decision on alliance at the time of polls, says Vijayakant

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Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Decision on alliance at the time of polls, says Vijayakant

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) will decide on alliances only at the time of the Lok Sabha elections, its founder Vijayakant said here on Monday.

Parrying persistent questions on alliance, Mr. Vijayakant told reporters here that he would not like to reveal now his poll strategy. “Let the elections come. Then I will decide,” he kept on repeating during the 45-minute-long interaction.

Mr. Vijayakant recalled that he had been saying that even if the elections were held now, he was prepared to face them. He pointed out that the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party had captured power on their own in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.

When a reporter remarked that alliances had come to stay in Tamil Nadu since the 1967 general elections, his reply was: “What do you have to say about the political scenario between 1952 and 1967?” [The Congress had won the Assembly elections on its own during the period.]

Asked for his reaction to All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Jayalalithaa’s reported statement that Tamil Nadu’s disease [of actors joining politics] had now infected Andhra Pradesh, the DMDK leader expressed disagreement.

To a question on whether the possibility of the DMDK joining hands with the AIADMK could be ruled out, Mr. Vijayakant said he would not give a definite reply now.

On the controversy regarding the Sethusamudram ship channel project, Mr. Vijayakant said Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi should bear the blame for the confusion surrounding the project. The DMDK leader avoided making any comment on actor Rajnikant’s clarification on his observations on Kannadigas in connection with the Hogenakkal drinking water supply project.

Mr. Vijayaakant revealed that he had applied for starting a television channel. He dismissed as speculation the talk that he was in touch with Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S. Ramadoss.

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