PM Modi held 'kangaroo court' to unite AIADMK factions: MK Stalin

Karur: DMK president M K Stalin has alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi united the two warring factions in the ruling AIADMK by holding “kangaroo court”, which he said was a role played by a “political broker”.

Lashing out at Modi for describing the DMK-Congress alliance as “opportunistic”, Stalin, addressing a party meeting here Thursday night, said the prime minister was making such remarks as he had been “jolted” by the defeat of BJP in the recent assembly elections in three states.

“I am asking if the prime minister should hold a kangaroo court? Is this a task that should be done by the Indian Prime Minister, this is something that should be done by a political broker,” he said.

Repeating his ‘kangaroo court’ barb made by him in the past, Stalin accused Modi of “dividing” the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) into factions led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his now deputy O Panneerselvam after the death of party supremo J Jayalalithaa in 2016.

Later Modi made the two leaders sit together at the negotiating table and “held their hands together” which was similar to that of holding a kangaroo court, he alleged.

The DMK leader’s sharp attack comes days after he proposed Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate of the opposition alliance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to defeat “fascist” Modi government.

Referring to the prime minister’s criticism of the DMK-Congress alliance, Stalin claimed Modi was attacking the two parties in view of the political turnaround at the national level which he (Modi) had not expected.

Referring to the outcome of polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief said the Congress had won in states that were considered BJP bastions and this had given a jolt to Modi.

He said the recent results of assembly polls in five states demonstrated that Modi-led BJP regime at the Centre would be dislodged and a similar fate awaited the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu. Following the death of Jayalalithaa in December 2016, the AIADMK split into two factions led by Panneerselvam and V K Sasikala, the trusted aide of the late AIADMK supremo.

After Sasikala was jailed in February last year in a corruption case, the faction led by her regrouped under Palaniswami and eventually both the factions merged.

Sasikala and her family members, including nephew T T V Dhinakaran, were removed from the party. The DMK had earlier also accused the BJP of meddling in the internal affairs of AIADMK. Stalin had last year alleged Modi orchestrated the merger of the two factions by holding “kangaroo court”.

The opposition party had also been taunting the AIADMK, saying it was being subservient to the BJP, a charge rejected by the ruling party which has maintained that it wanted cordial relations with the Centre.