Tamil Nadu politics hots up; Jaya asks cadre to 'destroy rivals', DMDK flexes muscle, Vaiko back in business

Politics is hotting up in Tamil Nadu as all parties come out of a fairly longish silence on pre-poll alliances. Jayalalithaa is showing up more often but not saying much while the Opposition parties have begun jabbing guardedly. The newly cobbled People’s Welfare Front (PWF) — which has Vaiko’s MDMK, casteist outfit VCK and CPM and CPI — has begun alliance talks with breakaway Congress leader GK Vasan to rope in the Tamil Maanila Congress in an alliance, reports The Hindustan Times. MDMK chief Vaiko and CPM state secretary G Ramakrishnan called on Vasan on Friday and spent nearly an hour with the former Congress leader who left the party last year. “The third front will weaken the AIADMK and DMK,” the outspoken Vaiko said, adding, “PWF intends to replace the corrupt Dravidian parties.” The PWF is trying to get DMDK chief Captain Vijayakanth into its fold but the former film star turned politician who is often the subject of super hit Tamil memes has not responded yet. The Hindu reports that the growing clamour for DMDK has strengthened its role well before BJP elders visit the state later this month. Jaya tells cadre to “destroy rivals” Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said she will finalise the AIADMK strategy for the upcoming Assembly polls “at an appropriate time” and kept the question marks on pre- poll alliances wide open at an AIADMK huddle in Chennai on Thursday. [caption id=“attachment_2269740” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Jaya keeps poll options open, attacks DMK/ PTI[/caption] Jayalalithaa underlined the party’s performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, in which AIADMK emerged as the third largest party in Parliament. “I will take the right decision as per the situation like the way we did in the past. There is no uniform strategy to win elections." she said. The AIADMK party has formed the government in the state six times - three times under the party founder late M.G. Ramachandran and three times under Jayalalithaa, “Parties that were part of the AIADMK alliance in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls were not the party’s allies for the 2011 Assembly polls,“Jayalalithaa said referring to the Left parties and Vijayakanth’s DMDK. Jayalalithaa said her party will form the government in the state for the seventh time. She added that the success of her government’s social welfare projects and schemes have helped the state improve its show on social indicators, including in the health and education sectors. She said her government had been successful in bringing about inclusive growth. Citing that Karnataka is reeling under power deficit and facing a drought-like situation, she rejected Opposition’s claims that industries were moving to Karnataka. “They even had to postpone the entrepreneurs’ meet to February,” she said. She underlined the need to evolve strategies to destroy rivals’ “conspiracies” and asked her party workers to use her government’s “achievements to counter big lies” spread by the Opposition. “Our rivals will spread false propaganda, but you must explain the truth to the people and remind them of the betrayals of the previous DMK government. You have to tell people about the social welfare measures of our government,” she said. Launching an attack on DMK chief M Karunanidhi and his son M K Stalin, she alleged that when the party was in power, it had “betrayed” Tamils and derailed crucial services including in the power sector. She accused the DMK for its “silence” on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue while part of the UPA government at the centre. With Agency inputs