Rejecting BJP vice-president V.P. Duraisamy’s claim that the four MLAs of his party were more vocal in taking up people’s issues in the Assembly than the AIADMK which has over 60 MLAs, AIADMK co-coordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami said on Friday that people were aware of his party’s functioning in the House and there was no need for any certificate from the BJP leader.
Asked about Mr. Duraisamy’s remarks, he told reporters, “The media and the people are aware of the functioning of the AIADMK in the Assembly. Mr. Duraisamy need not certify the functioning of the party. People are aware of how efficiently the AIADMK legislators, including Annan [O. Panneerselvam] and I, are taking up people’s issues in the Assembly. People are also aware of how the BJP floor leader is speaking.”
Flanked by his party leaders, including Mr. Panneerselvam the AIADMK coordinator, Mr. Palaniswami said people knew the party from where Mr. Duraisamy had switched to the BJP. “There is no need for him to give us advice. I joined the AIADMK in 1974, and have remained in this party for 48 years. Our workers have worked for the AIADMK, and they do not keep moving from one party to another like him.”
Responding to Mr. Duraisamy’s statement that the AIADMK leaders were jittery about the possibility of raids, Mr. Palaniswami said, “What raids? No ‘ komban’ can move the AIADMK.”
While commencing the interaction with the media, Mr. Panneerselvam referred to AIADMK organising secretary C. Ponnaiyan’s observation at a party meeting that the BJP was seeking to grow at the AIADMK’s expense and maintained that it was his “personal opinion”.
To a question on Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s observation that law and order was good, Mr. Palaniswami said murders, dacoity and chain-snatching were being reported every other day since the DMK returned to power. “There is no safety for people, especially women. There are gang rapes and there are sexual offences against minors.”
Alleging that DMK functionaries were interfering in the functioning of the police, Mr. Palaniswami said that under Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, law and order had become a joke and the “hands of the police have been tied”. Psychotrophic substances and ganja were available freely even in rural areas.
To a question on DMK local units passing resolutions for Mr. Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi to be accommodated in the Cabinet, Mr. Palaniswami said, “Only because there would be criticism if Mr. Stalin makes his son a Minister, he is trying to bring him into the Cabinet by the back door.”
Mr. Palaniswami also thanked AIADMK legislators, PMK founder S. Ramadoss and its president and Rajya Sabha member Anbumani Ramadoss and BJP leaders — Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president J.P. Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party State president K. Annamalai — for their support for the election of two AIADMK members to the Rajya Sabha.
