The leader of the Opposition calling on Chief Minister could have been described as a routine meeting had it been held in other States. But it is not the same in Tamil Nadu where legislators belonging to the AIADMK and the DMK, eternal adversaries, do not even speak to each other. So, MK Stalin calling on Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy on Tuesday turned out to be a mega event. Stalin, accompanied by some of the leaders of the DMK called on Palaniswamy at the latter’s office in Fort Saint George (Tamil Nadu’s seat of power) to press his party’s demands for a total rollback in the bus tariff hike announced by the Government recently.
Stalin said after the meeting that there was no assurance from the Chief Minister that the Government would make any amendments to the bus fare hike and hence he would discuss with other Opposition party leaders about intensifying the agitation against the Government.
Sources in the AIADMK had said immediately after the incident that meeting or discussions between top leaders of the AIADMK and the DMK are not in the interests of the former. It may be noted that Jayalalithaa had not met or spoken to Karunanidhi even once in her political career. Stalin had called on Jayalalithaa in early 2004 and she lost the subsequent elections to the lok Sabha and Assembly.
Though these arguments do not have any logic, the Drvaidian politicians of Tamil Nadu are superstitious. “We have reservations about so many subjects. For example, our leaders are not enthusiastic about any kind of alliance with VCK leader Thol Thrumavalavan because past associations with him were not in our interests except once,” said a DMK leader.