War of words between TNCC, AIADMK continues

War of words between TNCC, AIADMK continues
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

CHENNAI, SEPT 15: ``I hail from a political family which has been in public life for 100 years and has faced brick-bats and bouquets. AIADMK presidium chairman K Kalimuthu's diatribe does not bother me,'' TNCC president E V K S Elangovan said today.

Responding to Kalimuthu's charge that the TNCC president had become a stooge of DMK president and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, Elangovan told mediapersons that the people knew who was a stooge and who was corrupt.

Asked about Kalimuthu's veiled threat that the TNCC president would be unable to move around freely if he continued his attacks on the AIADMK, Elangovan said in a sarcastic tone, ``Kalimuthu surely will not want me to face the fate of the three Tamil Nadu Agricultural University students in Dharmapuri.''

The three girls he was referring to were burnt alive in a bus, allegedly by AIADMK men in the violence that was unleashed following a Special Court judgment convicting AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalitha in the Pleasant Stay Hotel case.

Dismissing as `minor', his differences with Jayalalitha, Elangovan rejected the idea of forming a co-ordination panel to sort out the differences of opinion in the secular front. However, he attributed lack of co-ordination between the AIADMK and the TNCC to the poor show of the alliance in 1999 elections. ``If both parties had better co-ordination and exhibited cohesion, the Front would have won in at least 35 seats,'' he added.

To a question whether he had any concrete plans for improving the relations between the AIADMK and TNCC, he said ``you need two hands to clap.''

On the suggestion made by former TNCC president P Subramaniam and a few others that the TNCC should organise a separate function to commemorate the 112th birth anniversary of Periyar E V Ramasamy, Elangovan said the suggestion was still there.

Requesting the organisers of Periyar's birth anniversary function to invite AICC president Sonia Gandhi for the celebrations, Elangovan said the TNCC would participate in the meeting called by secular parties to discuss the details of the celebrations on September 18.

When asked whether he would participate in the function, all that Elangovan would say was, ``TNCC will participate.''

He said the election of TNCC president would be held on November 1, as scheduled. The membership drive in the State had come to an end, he said and added that the lower-level committees have been asked to hand over the membership forms and fee to the district committees before September 20.