There is a virtual scramble for the opposition space in Tamil Nadu political scape with the Pattali Makkal Katchi too entering the race.
PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss said on Friday it was the PMK that is the “real opposition party” in the state. On the sidelines of a meeting with party functionaries in Salem, he said the BJP might be a major party nationally, but in TN it was still a minor party. “Some say the BJP has grown in the state. That is not true. BJP is still a small party in TN,’’ he told reporters.
The AIADMK meanwhile maintained that none can question its credentials as the principal opposition party. “People of the state are well aware of the AIADMK’s strength and performance,” former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said on Friday.
Rebutting BJP vice president V P Duraiswamy’s claim that the saffron party was playing the role of the primary opposition party, EPS said the AIADMK MLAs have been highlighting issues concerning people in the assembly. “There is no need for V P Duraiswamy to validate our functioning,” EPS said. “No one can dare to touch us,” he responded when asked about allegations that the AIADMK was playing a subdued role for fear of action by income tax department and enforcement directorate.
The PMK also trained its guns on the BJP for its claim to be the most active opposition party. Anbumani questioned if BJP state president K Annamalai would protest against BJP-ruled Karnataka’s bid to build a dam at Mekedatu. “Whereas the PMK has held a massive protest. That is how an opposition party should function,” he said.
The AI- ADMK remains the undisputed principal opposition party going by its strength in the assembly. But the BJP’s logic behind the claim for the opposition space is that it was not the numbers that make an opposition party, but its functioning. Duraiswamy had said that the BJP exposed “corruption” by DMK ministers, organised massive protests demanding the state government reduce fuel prices and fought for issues like banning ‘patina pravesham’. “It was the BJP that exposed the faults of the ruling party,” he claimed.
The issue itself came to the fore only after AIADMK organising secretary C Ponnaiyan warned his party members to be wary of the BJP which was trying to occupy the opposition space. The PMK took a dig at the BJP’s claim to have taken up people’s issues.
A PMK leader alleged that the BJP has never organised any protest for a people’s issue. “All their protests are to stoke religious sentiments like the one they organised against alleged forced religious conversions or the one against ban on ‘pattina pravesham’. The protest demanding slashing of fuel price was to divert the fact that the duty lies with Centre to bring down the prices,’’ he said.
