Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Vaiko on Wednesday expressed confidence that the differences of opinion among a few Opposition parties could be ironed out for the common objective of defeating the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
At a press conference in Chennai, responding to a question on the differences among the parties which are planning to come together at the national level, he said the meetings being planned for Opposition unity will help in sorting out such differences. On the possibility of a common minimum programme being developed, he said the common rallying point for the parties was to defeat the BJP, which, according to him, would bury democracy in the country if it was elected back to power.
He said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge spoke to him on the phone a couple of days ago and he would attend the Opposition unity meeting planned in Bengaluru next week. While expressing hope that Tamil Nadu would be able to assert its rights in the dispute with Karnataka over the construction of a dam across the Cauvery in Mekedatu, Mr. Vaiko, however, denied the possibility of the issue being discussed at the Bengaluru meeting.
Apprising the media of the discussions at the meeting of the party’s executive committee, he said the party’s campaign to collect signatures from members of the public to urge the President to recall Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi was under way in all the districts. Once the signatures were collected, the party would send them to the President.
Reiterating his party’s position of imposing total prohibition in Tamil Nadu, he hoped that the government would not take any measure to increase sales at Tasmac outlets and instead gradually reduce the number of liquor shops.
