Invite sent to all and VCK inching closer to AIADMK, says Jayakumar

“Cutting across party lines the state has sent invitations to all the political leaders. VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan had also accepted the invitation and the VCK leader is inching closer towards AIADMK,” the Minister said raising eyebrows among the political parties in the state.

Briefing reporters on the arrangements made for the gala event, the Minister said the ruling party is expecting a few lakhs of the public to attend the event. Cadre are upbeat to celebrate the party founder’s centenary and the event will showcase the legacy of our leader, Jayakumar said.

To a query on several illegal hoardings that have mushroomed in the city encroaching footpaths, the Minister said all the MGR centenary greeting hoardings have been kept with prior permission.

According to secretariat sources, the Chief Minister in the past few months has inaugurated projects worth over Rs 5,140.10 crore, laid foundation stones for works worth Rs 5,747.24 crore marking the centenary year of former TN chief minister, who ruled Tamil Nadu from 1977 to 1987.

The event will have rare photographs on the display and the state will felicitate all those who were associated with the matinee idol, sources said.

Meanwhile, VCK leader Thirumavalavan clarified that he will attend the centenary function as a tribute to late leader and this should not be politically judged.

It may be noted that amid their political rivalry, the ruling AIADMK invited arch rival DMK president MK Stalin and ousted Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam leader TTV Dhinakaran for the valedictory function of party founder. Both denied the invitation.

“Both Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam lack the moral ground and they are not the apt people to organise MGR centenary. We are not participating in the event and we will celebrate MGR Centenary after unseating this EPS-led government,” disqualified MLA and AMMK senior leader P Vettrivel said.

DMK president MK Stalin has decided to abstain from the valediction of the MGR centenary celebration to be conducted by the state government in Chennai on Sunday. 

Stalin, who respected the “political decency” of the state government in including his name in the event invitation, however, announced the abstention, alleging politicisation of the event by the ruling AIADMK.

Charging the ruling party with exploiting the celebration to advance its political interests and ridicule the Opposition instead of honouring MGR so far, Stalin said, “I am not in agreement with using MGR’s name for political mileage and party politics in the garb of a government event.... I have decided that it would augur well to avoid participating in the event.”

Urging the state government not to further its political interests using tax payer’s money, Stalin said that Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his Ministers were hitting his party, MGR’s 40-year-old friend M Karunanidhi and his family members below the belt.

Remarking that the people were aware that the ruling dispensation had forgotten the centenary during Jayalalithaa’s time and it had taken it up to further political interests, the LoP said the incumbent rulers should have reminded Jayalalithaa then that the celebrations should have commenced in January 2016.

Meanwhile, the principal opposition party DMK, which has declared a war against the BJP at the Centre, is working overtime to popularise Rafale deal. DMK leaders who have been making generic statements on the aircraft procurement, including Stalin’s terse one-liners on Rafale on social networking sites, on Saturday changed gear and allocated substantial space in party organ ‘Murasoli’ to popularise the fighter jet procurement dealings. The paper has written an editorial and an article criticising the ruling BJP’s hesitation to order a probe by the joint parliamentary committee it would also be a part of. Titled “Secret behind the procurement of Rafale fighter jets,” the party has wondered, “Why this hesitation? How could (BJP) not accept a probe by the chief vigilance commission even?” Not content with an editorial detailing the alleged deal, the DMK mouthpiece has even carried a news item based on a WhatsApp message which accuses the PM of “gifting Rafale deal” to Anil Ambani’s firm. As much as detailing the issue, the style in which it the Dravidian party has carried the Rafale-WhatsApp story issue has also arrested readers attention.

In the message, Hindu mythological characters Dharma and Krishna from Mahabharatha were seen hanging their head in shame when Saint Narada declares that Narendra Modi was more generous than them. In the same breath, the DMK has also borrowed a cartoon of a Tamil magazine which showed Modi in meditative state being bombarded by toy Rafale planes.