Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK on Friday took a swipe at AIADMK chief Edappadi K. Palaniswami for holding seat-sharing talks in the national capital with the BJP. DMK leader and minister K. N. Nehru sarcastically suggested that the AIADMK should lock its headquarters in Chennai, as a smaller constituent of the alliance is seemingly in charge of seat allocation.
"You may lock the party headquarters in Avvai Shanmugham Salai in Royapettah until the elections are over," were the words of the minister, taunting the state's principal opposition party. Nehru said he wondered how a Tamil Nadu-based party leading a coalition could hold its seat-sharing talks in Delhi. He claimed that Palaniswami was summoned by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in a manner similar to that of investigating agencies.
"Not even once have seat-sharing talks been held at the office of the party that is supposed to lead the alliance. Neither have the discussions happened at the Chennai residence of Palaniswami. If the AIADMK is leading the NDA in Tamil Nadu, then seat-sharing talks should have taken place at its headquarters in Chennai. Instead, Palaniswami is holding talks at Amit Shah's residence," news agency PTI quoted a DMK statement as saying.
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"The party leading the alliance should allocate seats to the BJP, PMK, AMMK, and others. That was the tradition under the late party leaders M. G. Ramachandran and J. Jayalalithaa. But now, Palaniswami is waiting at another party leader's house, asking for more seats for his own party. That shows how much things have changed," PTI quoted Nehru as saying.
Noting that this was Palaniswami's third visit to Delhi, Nehru said, "Each time, decisions are made only after consulting Amit Shah."
"Is this the All India Anna DMK or the Amit Shah DMK? Even T. T. V. Dhinakaran (AMMK leader) and Anbumani Ramadoss (PMK leader) meeting Amit Shah shows they are no less dependent."
"The AIADMK, which should be deciding seat allocation, cannot even decide how many seats it will contest and is waiting at the doorstep of Amit Shah. Party workers themselves wonder whether the real power lies elsewhere," he remarked.