People will teach a lesson to TVK in the bypolls, says Edappadi K. Palaniswami

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Sunday said that the people would teach a fitting lesson to the TVK in the Madurantakam and Dharapuram by-polls for fielding the same candidates, who had defected to the ruling party after being elected to the State Assembly on the AIADMK ticket in the recent Assembly elections.

Speaking to reporters here he said that the candidates in question Maragatham Kumaravel and P. Sathyabama had defected to the TVK by “horse trading”. Their resignation from the Assembly necessitated the bypolls. However, the TVK had re-nominated them, thereby drawing strong criticism among the voters. The voters would reject both the candidates, and the AIADMK nominees would win in both the constituencies, he said.

To a question on Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s trip to the United Kingdom, Mr. Palaniswami said that before embarking on the visit it was stated that it was for meeting investors and attracting investments to the State. However, there had been no news on meeting the investors yet, instead, the photos of his engagements in London showed that he had participated in other programmes.

The AIADMK general secretary said that people were upset over the poor governance of the TVK’s 120 days of rule. People of all walks of life, including farmers, conservancy workers, and teachers, had been staging protests in different parts of the State ever since the TVK came to power. It had failed to live up to the occasion and expectations of the people.

Earlier, speaking at a marriage ceremony, flanked by poet Vairamuthu and Kundrakudi Ponnambala Adigalar, Mr. Palaniswami launched a scathing attack on the TVK government and accused it of resorting to political horse trading to remain in power.

Terming the TVK government as ‘borrowed’, he said it was dependent on the support of allies and it would collapse anytime if the support was withdrawn.