R. ARIVANANTHAM
KRISHNAGIRI, OCT 10
Stating that it was only DMK’s late patriarch M Karunanidhi who “sowed the seeds of corruption”, and hence Stalin does not have the moral right to speak of corruption, said a senior AIADMK leader.
DMK president M K Stalin has ”wishful thinking” of top AIADMK leaders O Panneerselvam and K Palaniswami parting ways so that he may gain political mileage, but the party’s collective leadership cannot be broken, senior leader K P Munusamy asserted here on Saturday.
The DMK chief’s hopes would be of no avail as the AIADMK is led by the collective leadership built by the hard work of cadres, which cannot be broken at all, he said. Munusamy was responding to Stalin’s charge that the two leaders have joined forces “only for corruption.”
The AIADMK on October 7 announced Chief Minister K Palaniswami as the party’s CM nominee for the 2021 Assembly polls after ironing out differences between him and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam.
Stalin had made the remark while reacting to it. Assembly elections are due in Tamil Nadu during during April-May 2021.
Stalin’s repeated allegations of graft against the government were baseless and unfounded, Munusamy, the AIADMK deputy coordinator and former Minister, said. It was only DMK’s late patriarch M Karunanidhi who “sowed the seeds of corruption”, the Rajya Sabha MP alleged, adding that Stalin hence does not have the moral right to speak of corruption.
“Conspirators” unsuccessfully attempted to “divide us” by creating doubts about the Chief Ministerial choice since Opposition parties could hope to win only if the AIADMK became a divided house, he said. Against this background, the party unanimously nominated Palaniswami as the CM candidate since the government led by him has been delivering good governance, he said. To a question, he said whether it was a national or state party, only outfits that accepted the choice of Palaniswami as the CM candidate could be part of the AIADMK led alliance for the 2021 Assembly elections.
The 11-member steering committee, set up days ago, would render advice to the party brass, he said, adding the executive powers remain vested with party coordinator Panneerselvam and co-coordinator Palaniswami and the panel cannot act independently.
