Vaiko asks DMK chief Stalin to spell out stand on coalition

MDMK chief Vaiko today asked DMK president M K Stalin,whom he has supported on common issues for over a year, to make clear the party's stand on coalition after a DMK leader remarked that only the Congress and IUML are its allies 'as of now'.

DMK treasurer Duraimurugan had recently told a Tamil television channel and an English daily that "as of now, only the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League were allies of the DMK."

MDMK, Thol Thirumavalavan-led Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and the CPI and CPI(M) were the only friendly parties as of now and no electoral pact existed between DMK and them, the top DMK leader had said.

Vaiko asked party president M K Stalin to make known his stand on the coalition.

"Our cadres across Tamil Nadu are saddened...Duraimurugan has aired his views. Let the DMK president make his opinion known," Vaiko told reporters at Pudukottai.

Vaiko had campaigned for the DMK candidate in the R K Nagar bypoll in December 2017 and had even said that Stalin was set to become the next Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

Independent candidate and rival to the ruling AIADMK, T T V Dhinakaran had won the bypoll by a handsome margin.

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president Su Thirunavukkarasar had sought to downplay the issue, saying that Duraimurugan never stated that parties like MDMK or VCK would not be taken on board the DMK-led alliance in the state.

"Duraimurugan had only said that these parties are not part of the DMK alliance as of now," he had said.

Thol Thirumavalavan, in a terse reply, said "we are only friends."

Though MDMK and VCK were expected to be part of the DMK led alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, no formal announcement has been made by the Dravidian party.

However, Duraimurugan's assertion has apparently rankled the "friendly" parties.

MDMK, VCK and CPI and CPI(M) -which were part of the six party bloc People's Welfare Front- gravitated towards the DMK after the 2016 assembly poll debacle.

Vijayakanth's Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam and former Union minister G K Vaasan-led Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) were the other two partners of the now defunct PWF.

The PWF, touted as a political grouping that offered a "credible alternative," to the Dravidian majors the AIADMK and DMK could not make an impact at the hustings.