Votes Secured by Cong in Tamil Nadu Are 'DMK' Votes: Tamilisai Soundararajan

Tamilisai Soundararajan, a BJP leader, criticized the Congress party's performance in Tamil Nadu's Lok Sabha polls, arguing that if Congress had contested alone, it wouldn't have retained deposits in any constituency.

Chennai: BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan on Saturday said the Congress party, if it had fought on its own in Tamil Nadu in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, it would not have been able to retain deposit in any of the segments.

Speaking to reporters at the airport, Tamilisai, answering a question on a reported remark of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K Selvaperunthagai that votes secured by BJP were 'PMK votes,' wondered if all the votes cast in favour of the grand old party in the state were 'DMK' votes.

Further, she said: "Congress leader Selvaperunthagai says votes secured by BJP were PMK votes, and in that case, votes received by Congress party were actually the DMK votes. Will Chief Minister M K Stalin deny this?

Tamilisai, who unsuccessfully fought from south Chennai Lok Sabha constituency said, "You (Congress) could have fought on your own! Had Selvaperunthagai, a reference to the Congress party, fought on his own in Tamil Nadu, the party would not have been able to retain deposit in any of the constituencies in the state.

Selvaperunthagai has no moral right to criticise the BJP since the Congress rides piggyback on DMK and it is only due to the support of DMK and other parties in that alliance, the Congress has won in the state. Unlike Congress, the BJP remains strong in Tamil Nadu and the party has the courage to even go it alone in polls.

When Selvaperunthagai recently spoke of the aspiration to usher in Kamarajar's rule (Congress rule), senior leader EVKS Elangovan retorted that the DMK's rule was Kamaraj's rule and hence, the Congress party could only go on like this in Tamil Nadu without making any progress, she said.

The BJP contested LS polls with the support of smaller outfits including the PMK and drew a blank, though it registered an impressive, 11.24 per cent vote share. The Congress, a DMK ally, won nine seats in Tamil Nadu and also emerged victorious in the lone Lok Sabha constituency in neighbouring Puducherry.

The ruling DMK and main opposition AIADMK, are the two major political parties of Tamil Nadu, which have ruled the state since 1967.