DMK divorced Congress, no scope for reunion, says Bharathi

CHENNAI: DMK organising secretary RS Bharathi on Sunday launched a sharp attack on Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and its campaign management general secretary Aadhav Arjuna, asserting that the latter lacked the stature to challenge former Chief Minister MK Stalin or Leader of the Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin.

Addressing reporters at Anna Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters in Chennai, Bharathi threw down a challenge to TVK ahead of the local body elections, saying he would shave off one side of his moustache if the party managed to win even a single mayoral post.

He also blamed Aadhav Arjuna for creating problems for TVK president Vijay, stating that if any political danger arose for Vijay, Aadhav himself would be responsible.

Bharathi further ruled out any possibility of the DMK reuniting with parties that had “betrayed” it and left. “We will never again accommodate those who stabbed us in the back and walked away. There will be neither a political association nor a relationship with them. DMK cadres will not accept them either,” he said, in an apparent reference to the Congress.

On the party’s alliance prospects, Bharathi said the DMK would not be part of any alliance that included the Congress. Referring to remarks by senior Congress leader P Chidambaram that the DMK-Congress alliance remained intact, Bharathi claimed that the DMK had effectively “divorced” the Congress.

“Some parties that left us did so after consulting us. That was one kind of divorce. But the divorce with the Congress is of a different kind,” he remarked.