Ashamed of ties with DMDK: Jayalalithaa

Chennai: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said she was ashamed of having allied with the DMDK for the 2011 Assembly elections. "As the people of Tamil Nadu had the conviction to get rid of the corruption-ridden DMK regime and vote back the AIADMK to power, the absence of the DMDK in the alliance would not have had made a difference to electoral prospects of AIADMK. The DMDK, on the other hand, would not have won a single seat if it had not allied with AIADMK," she told the State Assembly on Wednesday.

The CM made the remarks after the House witnessed heated exchanges between her and DMDK chief Vijayakant during a discussion on the motion of thanks to the Governor's address.

As DMDK members caused a ruckus in the House, Assembly Speaker D Jayakumar ordered an en masse eviction of the DMDK MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Vijayakant and his deputy S Rama­chandran. The matter was referred to the Privileges Committee, which met in the afternoon and summoned Vijay­akant on Thursday. The Committee is likely to take a decision  within a day or two.

The CM, referring to Vijayakant’s behaviour, said, "When worthless persons get high positions, they don’t know how to conduct themselves. The DMDK has ascended to an important position because of its ties with the AIADMK. From now on, their decline begins. History will record it."

She clarified, "I had no intention to ally with the DMDK at all. I agreed for the alliance only to satisfy my party men."

To prove her point that the DMDK had won so many seats only because it allied with the AIADMK, Jayalalithaa challenged the Opposition party to contest the ensuing by-election to the Sankarankoil Assembly constituency on its own. Vijayakant argued that everyone knows that the ruling party usually wins bypolls.

Jayalalithaa then retorted, "The Leader of Opposition has accepted his impending defeat even before the announcement for Sankarankoil by-election is made."

Vijayakant persisted saying the AIADMK will win in the same way that DMK won the Pennagaram by-election, to which Leader of the House O Panneerselvam, pointed out that "the Madras High Court had passed strictures against the previous DMK regime for the large-scale irregularities in Chennai Corporation elections. On the other hand, now the elections to local bodies were conducted in a free and fair manner and the AIADMK had won a historic victory."  

When Vijayakant ranted on, a few ministers rose to counter him. But DMDK members objected to it, leading to noisy scenes.