TMMK's John Pandian announces that his party walks out of AIADMK alliance

PMK and Thamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam which allied with the AIADMK during the recent assembly polls seem to have started moving away from the AIADMK, which lost power to rival DMK. PMK MLAs in the assembly have started to support the DMK government led by chief minister M K Stalin openly, and this had irked the AIADMK MLAs in the house. According to AIADMK insiders, the PMK, which has five MLAs in the assembly is now maintaining a neutral stand and are yet to begin the poll alliance talks for the upcoming civic polls.

Meanwhile, Dalit leader John Pandian who is also the founder of Thamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam has announced that his party is walking out of the AIADMK alliance. John Pandian told media houses that the AIADMK leaders O Paneerselvam and Edappadi K Palaniswami has done great injustice to his party and him and blamed the AIADMK workers for losing the Egmore assembly constituency. “I wanted the assembly seats that were located in Tirunelveli and Tenkasi, but both OPS and EPS played politics spoiling my victory in the Egmore seat,” Pandian told reporters on Monday.

“Our party leader Pandian had conveyed his decision to the party workers about the breaking of alliance with the AIADMK. However, our party will continue its alliance with the BJP,” a source close to John Pandian said.

“When the AIADMK was ruling the state, the minor parties wanted an alliance and now after the regime change, they are expressing a new interest towards DMK. This is not alliance dharma, but a sheer political business. We don’t want to comment on them, and our party will soon take a decision on the alliance,” an AIADMK senior said wishing not to be named. AIADMK’s vote bank is intact and despite being in opposition AIADMK will win the civic polls in nine districts where the polls were deferred due to delimitation exercise.

Meanwhile, the opposition AIADMK on Tuesday conducted the party electoral meeting to discuss the election strategies for Villupuram and Cuddalore districts.