DMK in denial; believes 2G 'not a factor' for poll upset

New Delhi, May 16: After the victorious political parties in the Assembly Elections 2011 are discussing seat-sharing with allies, cabinet berths etc…, the ones that did not make the cut are in retrospection on what led to their disastrous performance. The DMK"s performance in the Tamil Nadu elections cannot be categorized a debacle but a letdown of humungous proportions.

While the DMK stalwart and leader Karunanidhi refused to come up with a statement on the people punishing the party, others in the party chose to be more vocal about the upset. The fact that Congress is also cosying up to Jaya"s AIADMK is leading to more heart burns for the DMK.

With media reports and others in the public space commenting that it was the 2G scam that led to DMK"s disastrous run in the elections, DMK leader T.K.S. Elangovan commented that the telecom scam was “not a factor" in the TN polls. He added that it was not even a minor factor for the debacle.

Speaking to news agencies, he spoke on the defeat and said, “It is difficult to find out the reasons. I don't know why it happened. People need a performing government and we performed well. All sections (of the society) benefited while people had suffered a lot during the (earlier) governments led by Jayalalithaa."

Elangovan also added that an alliance by the Congress with the AIADMK is ruled out and said, “I don't think the Congress will prefer the AIADMK. She (Jayalalithaa) is the most unreliable ally." On asking if the DMK was feeling let down by the Congress, he replied, "It was not an election for the central government, (it was to be decided) how our leaders performed and how Jayalalithaa performed."

With DMK member A Raja in jail for masterminding the telecom scam and DMK Chief Karunanidhi"s daughter Kanimozhi facing possible arrest, Elangovan still seemed optimistic and added, “Even in Raja's Lok Sabha constituency of Nilgiris, we won two of the four assembly seats. (2G) was not a reason. Beyond that what happened, we will find out."

On the DMK"s huge dent in image, he said that it was made by the media and that corruption was not an issue which attributed to the defeat especially since Jayalalithaa was equally involved in other corruption cases.

OneIndia News