Two days after the DMDK was embarrassed by allegations from the DMK that they were attempting to initiate last minute alliance talks, the party's treasurer Premalatha Vijaykant launched a fiery attack on the Dravidian party. At a press meet held in the party's headquarters in Chennai, Premalatha termed the DMK as a 'Thillu Mullu Party' (fraud party) and accused the party of political conspiracy against the DMDK.
On Wednesday, soon after two leaders from DMDK visited Duraimurugan, he had said that they had requested to be part of the DMK alliance and that he had turned them down. This happened, even as DMDK's LK Sudheesh was in talks with Union Minister Piyush Goyal on being a part of the AIADMK-BJP alliance. Duraimurugan thus accused DMDK of double speak and questioned how an alliance can be formed with a party that was openly in talks with both Dravidian majors but denied it.
The DMDK has now termed Duraimurugan's actions as an act of revenge.
"The DMK is clearly trying to take revenge on us and this is a political conspiracy. They have behaved in this manner at every level. Duraimurugan too did not make any sense at all. He says he didn't know the DMDK leaders who came to his house. If that was the case why did he even allow them in?" asks Premalatha. "And when we know that Stalin is not in town, why will we go have talks? It is a small miscommunication and the DMK has blown it out proportion. We have always said the DMK stands for 'Thillu Mullu party'," she told the media.
She further went on to insult the DMK treasurer claiming he must have been sleep talking due to old age.
"He actually said that Stalin was sleeping at 1 pm. How insulting is that for a leader? And then he says that some lady picked up the phone and said not in coverage area. He is blabbering. I have heard that he falls asleep often due to old age, perhaps this is one such instance," she lashed out. "We went to speak to him because he is a senior leader and it is a sign of respect. But despite being a senior politician he has behaved this way. Will this happen anywhere else?" she asked.
The DMDK further accused Duraimurugan of calling the media himself, to make a spectacle of the visit. But when asked why the denial from the DMDK comes so late, Premalatha snapped at the journalists present there.
"DMDK cannot be guided or threatened. We do what we want. It is our wish. When we want to say no, we will. For that, if you come and stand for 24 hours outside our home and office, it doesn't mean we have to reply," she said. "This is a party with army like discipline. We will only have press release if our leader (Vijaykant) agrees. Our leadership will tell decide when we clarify. We can't respond to your haste," she said.
When it was pointed out that the alleged talks with both parties points to lack of a firm ideology for the party, she got further infuriated.
"Who said we don't have ideology? Did anyone tell you? So you can ask anything?," she asked. "People have 100% belief in us. If there is a girl in a house a lot of people will express interest in marrying her. Similarly, if there is a political party, people will obviously come and talk. But the party leadership has to decide on alliance. So if you look at it that way who in TN doesn't form alliance or have talks with all parties?" she questioned.
The DMDK leader further added that since it was Lok Sabha polls it only made sense to align with one of the two national parties - Congress or BJP.
"This is about choosing MPs for the state and the Prime Minister for the country," she said. "Last time Jayalalithaa went alone and she may have won 37 seat but what good was that for Tamil Nadu? She could not bring any welfare schemes," she claimed.
So when will DMDK finally announce its alliance?
"In two days," said Premalatha."We will give you all the details once it is final."