Revealing what went behind the scenes during the run-up to the Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, the Congress on Monday said that there were feelers from the AIADMK who sought an alliance for the elections but the party rejected the offer as it didn’t want to change the ally just for romping home. It added that relations with the DMK was good.
Union health minister and general secretary in-charge of Tamil Nadu, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, in an informal interaction with lady journalists at the Indian Women Press Corps (IWPC) said, “Of course there were signals from Jayalalithaa that we should go with her. But we didn’t want to be opportunistic.” He added that his party didn’t want to align with the AIADMK despite the fact that no party has been returned to power back-to-back for more than two decades. “Even I realise that for the past many years, no party has won back-to-back. But still we didn’t want to change the ally just for the sake of winning elections,” he said.
Despite Rajya Sabha MP and daughter of Dr Karunanidhi, Ms Kanimozhi’s arrest, Mr Azad asserted that relations between the two parties are good. He said, “Relations between the DMK and the Congress are good. We have stood by each other through thick and thin.” Empathising and pleading helplessness with Dr Karunanidhi over the issue of Kanimozhi’s incarceration, Mr Azad said that his party shares the pain of the DMK chief but couldn’t help it.