Tamil Nadu

Government not consulted on by-poll: Karunanidhi

CHENNAI: Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Sunday said he was not able to comprehend the reason behind announcing the by-election to the Thirumangalam Assembly constituency in a hurried manner without taking into consideration the practical difficulties faced by the State government.

In a statement here, the Chief Minister said the government which was busy with relief and rehabilitation work in flood-hit districts was not consulted about its preparedness for the by-election.

Mr. Karunanidhi said the government could not ask for conducting the election along with the coming Lok Sabha polls since it had realised that simultaneous elections to an Assembly seat and Lok Sabha constituencies, whose boundaries had been redrawn after de-limitation, would pose unnecessary problems to the administration.

He explained that as per the direction from the Election Commission, the DMK had to complete the organisational polls before December 27 and it could not be postponed to the next year.

“Moreover Pongal festival falls on January 14,” he pointed out.

Mr. Karunanidhi said when the ruling party had not expected the announcement and if the opposition had keenly awaited it, there could be a reason.

“Ms Jayalalithaa might have calculated that if she could win the by-election the encouragement would also lead to a victory in the Lok Sabha polls,” he said.

“But history through the 1967 Assembly polls, which saw the DMK capturing power in the State, had demonstrated that such calculations would go wrong,” he added.

He said when the Congress won the Dharmapuri Assembly seat in 1967, the party thought that it would also win the Assembly polls. But the people gave a verdict in favour of the DMK headed by C.N. Annadurai, he added.

The Chief Minister alleged that by deciding to contest in the Thirumangalam constituency Ms. Jayalalithaa had gone against the tradition established by her mentor MGR.

“When Thirupattur Assembly constituency faced a by-election following the death of a Congress member, MGR supported another Congress candidate, though the AIADMK had no electoral alliance with that party.

He established a new principle that if by-election was caused by the death of an elected member the seat should be given to the party he had represented.

But instead of showing generosity by allotting Thirmangalam constituency to the MDMK, she had announced that her party would contest,” he said.

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