CHENNAI: PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Wednesday warned that by-elections, if forced following the resignation of AIADMK MLAs and their subsequent induction into TVK, could unite Opposition parties, with “all Opposition parties” possibly coming together to field common candidates against the ruling party.
Strongly criticising the developments, he termed the defections a “murder of democracy” and a “political fraud”, alleging that legislators elected by the people had been made to resign within weeks of their victory and were immediately inducted into the ruling party.
“The people gave TVK 108 MLAs. That mandate must be respected. This is worse than horse-trading,” he said, adding that Tamil Nadu had never witnessed such a political situation before.
Anbumani said PMK cadres had worked extensively for the victory of AIADMK alliance candidates in constituencies such as Madurantakam, Dharapuram and Perundurai, and the resignations had disappointed alliance workers and voters.
He claimed that the people had voted for Chief Minister Vijay, seeking political change and clean governance, and urged the government not to ignore public sentiment.
At the same time, the PMK leader said his party would support the government on measures beneficial to the people. He welcomed steps such as closure of Tasmac outlets, partial waiver of cooperative farm loans and efforts to protect 69% reservation.
However, he urged the government to focus on public issues such as the Mekedatu dam dispute, social justice enumeration, women’s safety, agriculture, teacher vacancies and pending power projects instead of engineering defections.
Calling for a caste census, Anbumani reiterated that the State government should undertake a “social justice enumeration” to collect updated socio-economic data of all communities in Tamil Nadu. He said such a database would help in framing targeted welfare measures and improving access to education, employment and reservation benefits.
On law and order, he alleged that the previous DMK regime had failed to curb narcotics and crimes against women, and called for stronger policing and anti-drug enforcement measures.