Unfair to abuse ex-ally BJP after parting ways, says EPS

MADURAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has justified not criticising the BJP saying it is not fair to abuse an ally after walking out of a coalition. He was speaking to reporters after opening an election office of the party in the city on Friday.
EPS said they had parted ways with BJP just before the elections. “It is not right to criticise them as we have been with them till the eleventh hour.We can only criticize things they did when we were not with them. We have parted ways now, we will fight for the rights of the state,” Palaniswami said to reporters’ questions about their relations. “AIADMK stands by coalition dharma. Since we are no longer with BJP, we will take them head-on if BJP does anything wrong or brings out schemes harmful to the state. When we are within a coalition, we don’t betray our allies like DMK does,” he said.
On Stalin’s remarks that AIADMK has a secret coalition with BJP, EPS said coalitions are formed based on electoral calculations. It was left to the party to decide to stay or walk out of the coalition. “Stalin and his son Udhayanidhi are slandering the AIADMK with ulterior motives. We suspect that they fear losing the elections,” he said.
Brushing aside opinions that AIADMK’s prospects are bleak, EPS said reality is different on the field. “Based on my assessment of public sentiment, AIADMK will win all 40 constituencies including Puducherry. We will also win Vilavancode byelections,” he said. Asked about dummy candidates of OPS fielded in Ramanathapuram constituency, he said anyone can contest in elections in a democratic country. “It is the decision of 2 crore party workers to oust OPS and I can’t do much about it,” the former CM said when asked if there was a chance for OPS to be re-inducted into AIADMK.