Stung by the findings of opinion polls that it would finish far behind the ruling AIADMK in the May 16 Assembly elections, the DMK has intensified poaching from the DMDK led by Vijayakant. The last two days saw hundreds of DMDK cadre including senior leaders quitting the party and joining the DMK.
Two district secretaries, a senior functionary of the agricultural wing and hundreds of party cadre switched over their loyalties to the DMK on Friday and Saturday. All those who left the DMDK and joined the DMK were unanimous in their charge that the People’s Welfare Front was the B team of the AIADMK, a charge levelled by the DMK.
The DMK’s first family had wooed Vijayakant to join its alliance to take on the ruling AIADMK. But Vijayakant preferred to be the King rather than a King Maker as the DMK made it clear that there was no question of sharing of power in the eventuality of the party-led front winning the election. Vijayakant cast his lot with the four-party People’s Welfare Front which declared that the DMDK leader would be the front’s Chief Ministerial candidate.
The DMK had tried to rope in Vaiko’s MDMK to its front but without success. Following Vaiko’s refusal to join the front led by it, the DMK made hundreds of MDMK cadre and senior functionaries to defect to the DMK. Many district secretaries and senior state leaders left Vaiko and joined the DMK.
Following large scale defection from the DMDK to the DMK, leaders of the PWF has raised concerns about the strong arm tactics employed by the DMK. But M K Stalin, scion of the DMK, refuted the allegations made by the PWF leaders. “We don’t have any role in these leaders crossing over to the DMK. We never tried to woo these functionaries. These parties are melting themselves. In the coming days, you will witness much more,” Stalin told reporters on Saturday. .
Though the DMK describes PWF as B team of the AIADMK, Vaiko, the PWF convener, has come out with a serious allegation against the AIADMK leadership. “The AIADMK is deploying black money to woo the voters. Containers of money has been stored in a bungalow owned by a leader of the AIADMK in a Chennai suburb and I want the authorities to inspect the bungalow,” charged Vaiko.