Jayalalitha will give good govt.: Moopanar

By Radha Venkatesan

MADURAI, MAY 3 The Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) president, Mr. G. K. Moopanar, today declared that his electoral ally and AIADMK general secretary, Ms. Jayalalitha, ``will and is capable of changing her style of functioning.''

Mr. Moopanar, who is on his second leg of campaigning despite a hip fracture, asserted in an interview to The Hindu here that Ms. Jayalalitha would ``change to the requirements of the situation.''

``There is already a change in her,'' he claimed. And in support of his view, he recalled Ms. Jayalalitha's statement that she would recover the jewellery seized by the DVAC and give them to the poor.

The TMC, he said, had not given up its goal of restoring Kamaraj rule, which was characterised by honesty in public life, simplicity in personal life and transparency in administration. ``If anybody gives such a government (Kamaraj rule) we will be happy. I hope Ms. Jayalalitha will give a good government.''

Asked how the TMC, which was born in protest against the Congress aligning with the AIADMK in 1996, could now ally with that party, Mr. Moopanar said ``The DMK was born with the call for separatism in Tamil Nadu. But it gave up that slogan. Does it mean, the DMK should not exist at all after giving it up?''

Discounting the possibility of a hung Assembly, Mr. Moopanar vehemently denied that the TMC was angling for a share in power with the AIADMK, after the election. ``Our role is that of a watchdog. That is all,'' he insisted.

``Nothing can be done against law,'' he shot back, reacting to a question on whether the TMC would oppose the withdrawal of a slew of corruption cases against Ms. Jayalalitha, if the AIADMK was voted to power.

On the AIADMK leader not attacking the BJP in her campaign, Mr. Moopanar said ``Attacking the BJP alone will not help. Here, the main target is the DMK.''

Looking frail, Mr. Moopanar, who is mostly bound to a wheelchair because of the hip fracture, squarely blamed the ruling DMK for the ``political confusion'' in the State. He explained that the TMC was with the DMK until it ``unfortunately'' extended support to the BJP. ``That is when political confusion started,'' he noted, making it clear that the TMC would remain in the ``anti- communal front.''

On his friendship with the DMK chief, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, he said in an emotional tone: ``We are long-time friends and we will continue to be so forever.'' Asked if it was a painful decision for him to campaign for dislodging the Karunanidhi regime, Mr. Moopanar remarked: ``Personal ties are different from political relations.'' Stoutly justifying Ms. Jayalalitha being projected as the Chief Ministerial candidate of the secular front, despite her disqualification, the TMC leader argued that in a democracy ``rejection has to be done by people and not by legal means.''

He discounted reports that there was no coordinated campaigning by the TMC and AIADMK cadres and asserted ``there is very good coordination.''

On the bitterness in the TMC camp over allotment of seats and the consequent exit of at least six MLAs from the party, Mr. Moopanar merely said ``Problems in seat allocation in an alliance cannot be avoided and the TMC will have to stand these strains caused by dissidence.''

``It is a past affair,'' he shot back, when reminded about his party's general council resolution a few months ago that Tamil Nadu was headed for a coalition era. The ground realities had changed his perception about the possibility of a coalition era.

As for the former Union Minister, Mr. P. Chidambaram, who launched the TMC Democratic Forum in protest against the TMC's tie-up with the AIADMK, Mr. Moopanar said ``Unlike Mr. Chidambaram's forum, the TMC is not a 60-day wonder.'' However, he hastened to say that he was pained at the exit of a ``good friend'' from the party. ``I am also a loser.'' Asked if he expected Mr. Chidambaram to return to the TMC fold after the election, he said: ``I don't think so. He is a stubborn man.''

On the former Minister's charge that the TMC was in the grip of a coterie, Mr. Moopanar replied ``I have heard this word, coterie, ad nauseam, since Indira Gandhi's time.'' On the possibility of his party merging with the Congress, he said he would ``consider the suggestion,'' but he was always with the Congress.

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Section  : State Elections
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