Defeat fear forces CM Vijay into bypoll swirl, says MK Stalin

CHENNAI: DMK president MK Stalin on Saturday appealed to voters in Madurantakam to give Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay a “shock treatment”, who is getting to the lanes due to fear of defeat, after not doing so in the general polls.

Addressing a campaign meeting in Madurantakam, Stalin said he had been told by ruling party functionaries that the party could win the by-election even if it fielded a dog as its candidate. He urged voters to restrain what he described as the ruling party’s arrogance.

“Chief Ministers never campaign during by-elections. But Chief Minister Vijay has campaigned twice in each constituency. Because of electoral fear, he has no confidence in his own government. The government is being run by somebody behind the screen,” he alleged, adding that he liked the fear he had over any defeat in the bypolls.

Explaining the reasons for the DMK’s defeat in the Assembly election, Stalin said the party had fought its ideological opponent (referring BJP and its allies in the State). He described the TVK as a group of "clowns" and said the DMK had not considered it a serious opponent during the election.

But he rejected the notion of any TVK wave, saying that any such trend would have helped them secure 150 plus seats. "But it could not even secure a majority. The party did not have confidence in the alliance parties supporting the government. The TVK has planned to increase its MLA strength through horse-trading,” Stalin alleged.

Raising issues including the law-and-order situation and price rise in the State, Stalin questioned whether the TVK-led government could be called a “thooya sakthi” government and instead described it as a “government of grief sakthi”.

Questioning the TVK leadership, Stalin asked why the ruling party had not spoken about the demand for the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner. He alleged that the TVK leader had a secret alliance with Delhi and would eventually abandon all its alliance partners.

Appealing to voters, Stalin said punishing the TVK would prevent horse-trading by the ruling party in the future.

“Voters should give shock treatment to Chief Minister Vijay, who has brought his cinema fame into politics and is now indulging in horse-trading and diverting the people,” he said.