Leaders of Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK on Monday denied that they are acting like a double-barrelled gun, along with the BJP.
On Sunday, AIADMK's mouthpiece "Namathu Puratchi Thalaivi Amma" carried an article appreciating BJP and said the signs of both the parties acting like a double-barrelled gun are visible.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar said only the party high command can decide on the electoral alliances.
Referring to the article in the party's newspaper, he said that it is only an article and electoral alliances are stitched only during polls and it is the party that decides on that and not newspaper columnists.
Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai also said there is no pact between AIADMK and BJP.
Referring to the AIADMK, he said there is only a single-barrel gun in the state and no double-barrel gun.
On the other hand, DMK leader MK Stalin told reporters in Pudukottai that AIADMK and BJP are in fact acting like a double-barrelled gun on several issues like the common entrance exam for medical education and Cauvery river water issue.
He said the BJP-led Central government has not set up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) despite the Supreme Court order and the Tamil Nadu government seems to be in concurrence with them.
In a reference to the recent series of opposition parties’ protests over the non-formation of the Cauvery Management Board, the party said “whatever be the number of protests and demonstrations, no one can sever the ties between the AIADMK and the BJP,” reported The Hindu. Terming the protests ‘unnecessary’, the article also assigns an ulterior motive to them: DMK is apprehensive that the two governments, working in unison, would resolve the Cauvery dispute, according to the Deccan Chronicle.
As per the New Indian Express, the article also called on the leadership of both parties, the AIADMK and the BJP, to come together and work towards a joint solution over the Cauvery dispute.
(With IANS inputs)