The Hindu : Front Page : Jayalalithaa asks Congress to snap ties with DMK

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Friday, Feb 20, 2009
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Front Page

Jayalalithaa asks Congress to snap ties with DMK

B. Kolappan

Photo: V. Ganesan

Jayalalithaa coming out of the Assembly on Thursday. —

CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa on Thursday “advised” the Congress to snap its ties with the DMK, saying that the political parties aligning with the DMK would also be defeated by the people of Tamil Nadu in the Lok Sabha elections.

“The AIADMK and the Congress have been friends in the past. I cherish the friendship and as a friend I would like to give an advice. The DMK is sinking into the quick sand. No one can save it. If the Congress extends a helping hand it too will sink,” she said while presiding over 61 marriages organised to mark her 61st birthday.

Ms Jayalalitha said the AIADMK would sweep the Lok Sabha polls. Parties that aligned with it alone would gain and others would lose.

She accused the DMK government in Tamil Nadu and that party’s Ministers in the Union Cabinet of indulging in corruption.

“The people want to know why no action has been taken against the DMK Ministers at the Centre. The Congress should not think that the Tamil Nadu people have lost their thinking capacity. It should also not think that the people will forget the corruption and atrocities of the DMK government and vote for the alliance just because they had voted for the alliance in the past,” she said.

While urging the Congress to atone for its alliance with the DMK, she said if the Congress was really interested in getting votes, it should withdraw its support to the DMK government.

She said, “It should dismiss the DMK government. It should expel the DMK Ministers from the Union Cabinet and order investigations into various scandals, including the spectrum scam, by the DMK Ministers.”

She said Indira Gandhi was like a mother to her. “She showered affection on me.”

Later, Ms. Jayalalithaa went to the Assembly and signed the register.