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AIADMK gives TMC, Cong 47 seats

Giving details of the agreement reached between him and AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha in Madras, TMC president G K Moopanar said that his party would allocate to the Congress whatever it asked for.

Hours after Moopanar made public the poll pact, the Congress said it would contest 15 of the 47 assembly seats ".

Showing a letter signed by AICC General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, authorising him to negotiate and conclude an agreement with the AIADMK on behalf of the Congress, Moopanar said an alliance for Pondicherry, which goes to the polls along with Tamil Nadu, would be dealt with later.

On the Tiruchirapalli Lok Sabha seat, which fell vacant following the death of Rangarajan Kumaramangalam, he said it had not been allocated to the Congress or his party, but had been left to the discretion of the AIADMK president.

Stating that he was 'satisfied' with the agreement, Moopanar said the alliance was not 'opportunistic'.

On whether his party would accept Jayalalitha as the chief ministerial candidate, he said the AIADMK was a large party. ''It is for that party to decide.''

On whether the TMC was not attempting to usher in a 'corrupt' Jayalalitha rule in the state, Moopanar shot back, ''Did we not bring those who were corrupt to power earlier?'', apparently referring to the DMK, which had been indicted by the Sarkaria Commission.

"We have not said corruption is not a problem. Those in power can make mistakes. Jayalalitha has been punished," he said, in an attempt to vindicate the party's stand of entering a poll pact with AIADMK.

On whether Jayalalitha, convicted in two corruption cases, would be permitted to contest the polls, he said, "I am not a lawyer."

On cases pending against her in courts, he said the law would take its course.

Stating that the AIADMK front was a 'winning combine', he said his party was confident that if Jayalalitha came to power, she would provide 'good governance'. The need of the hour, he said, was to fight communal forces.

On whether the TMC, which had projected the twin dangers of corruption and communalism in its election manifesto in 1996, had now dropped corruption from its agenda, he said, ''Corruption is only a individual matter, but communalism is a policy matter.''

On his perception of the PMK, he said the Vanniar-based party ''has converted itself to a political party.''

On the PMK's leanings towards the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Moopanar said his party would not support the Tigers. "Are there not parties which are supporting them," he said, adding that the TMC was in alliance with the AIADMK and not with the PMK.

He declined to comment on whether he had been consulted by Jayalalitha on admitting the PMK into the AIADMK-led front.

On the entry of the Puthiya Tamizhagam and Dalit Panthers of India, the erstwhile allies of TMC, into the DMK, he said, "The two parties are justifying their entry because the DMK is now in power."

On whether his party had decided to work in tandem with the Congress with the intention of merging the two parties, he said, ''You are going too far ahead.''

Declining to state anything on Pondicherry, he said the decision to align with the AIADMK had been taken after discussions with all senior TMC members.

PTI

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