Candid comment on alliances

By Radha Venkatesan

CHENNAI, AUG. 23. What are political alliances for? In a comic interlude in the Assembly today, the PMK member, Mr. I. Ganesan, came up with a crisp, candid response.

``If you (AIADMK) won four seats because of us (PMK), we won two seats because of you. That's what alliances are for'', he said.

His explanation came in response to the Health Minister, Mr. S. Semmalai's pointed query why Mr. Ganesan, who claimed that his party was committed to political decency, had not acknowledged the fact that the AIADMK general secretary, Ms. Jayalalithaa, had toured his Edapaddi constituency despite rain and power cut.

When the TMC member, Mr. C. Gnanasekaran, sought to know why the PMK had quit the alliance, Mr. Ganesan retorted: ``Did you not read the PMK's statements in the newspapers''.

He said he would not go into the reasons for the break in the alliance as he wanted to avoid ``pandemonium'' in the House.

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Section  : Southern States
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