The Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK, which headed the alliance comprising CPI-(M), CPI, PMK and MDMK in Tamilnadu, said the CPI(M) State unit’s stand smacked of ‘mischief and ridicule’ and was ‘politically uncultured’.
The AIADMK’s sharp reaction came in response to the CPI(M)’s State unit view that the ‘failure’ of AIADMK to project the Third Front as an alternative to the Congress and the BJP was one of the reasons for the poor results.
Contrary to projections of a close fight, the AIADMK-led front had managed to win only 12 out of the 40 seats in Tamilnadu and Puducherry.
‘Of the 81 seats CPI(M) contested nationwide, they won only 16. The party won only four of the 14 seats in Left- ruled Kerala and nine of the 32 in West Bengal.
Does this mean the party itself was not serious about projecting the Third Front?’ AIADMK headquarters secretary and former Minister K A Sengottaiyan said in a statement here yesterday.
He pointed out that the CPI(M) had drawn a blank in many States and wondered whether AIADMK was responsible for the defeat there too. ‘One should think before criticising others,’ he said, adding that blaming an ally for the defeat was against the ‘alliance dharma’.
On Varadarajan’s allegation that AIADMK was ‘unilaterally highlighting’ its stand on scrapping the Rs 2,400-crore Sethusamudram project, which CPI(M) opposes, Sengottaiyan demanded to know whether Varadarajan was not aware of the differences before forging an alliance.
Earlier, rumours of CPI(M) parting ways with AIADMK had surfaced after Varadarajan and other party leaders called on former ally Chief Minister and DMK chief M Karunanidhi to wish him on his birthday last month, which the DMK leader had described as a routine meet.
Varadarajan, who was asked about continuing the alliance with AIADMK for bye-elections for five constituencies in Tamilnadu, had said on Wednesday that the party would take a decision at ‘an appropriate time’ and ‘after the announcement of the date for the polls’.
