AIADMK will support a party which will protect interests of Tamil Nadu: K Palaniswami

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Friday said the AIADMK would support a party at the Centre which would strive to protect the interests of Tamil Nadu post the Lok Sabha polls.

The All Indian Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam joint coordinator's comments come a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the BJP was open to alliances and that it cherished its old friends, in a hint that the saffron party was looking to strengthen the NDA in Tamil Nadu ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

The AIADMK, led by former chief minister Jayalalithaa, had joined hands with the BJP to face the 2004 Lok Sabha polls but the alliance could not win even a single seat while the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-Congress combine swept the polls.

"As far as we are concerned, our stand is that whoever does good for the people of Tamil Nadu, they should come to power at the Centre," Palaniswami said at a party event here.

"We will support only those who do good for the people of Tamil Nadu," he said.

"We will not accept anyone who betrays the people of Tamil Nadu. This is our stand," he added.

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On January 10, in an interaction with party booth-level workers from five districts in Tamil Nadu through video conferencing, Modi had recalled the "successful coalition politics" ushered in by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the 1990s and said the BJP's doors were "always open".

He was responding to a question from a worker whether the BJP would ally with the AIADMK, the DMK or Tamil superstar Rajinikanth, who is yet to form his political party.

In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP joined hands with five smaller parties including the DMDK, the PMK and Vaiko-led MDMK. The alliance managed to bag only two of the 39 seats -- one each by the BJP and the PMK.

Later, all five parties snapped ties with the BJP. Palaniswami also took a dig at the DMK for "dynastic politics". He said DMK chief M K Stalin succeeded his father and former party president M Karunanidhi and he will be succeeded by his son Udhayanidhi.

"When Karunanidhi was alive, he ensured MP's post for his daughter Kanimozhi," the chief minister said.

Others from the DMK's first family -- Karunanidhi's elder son M K Alagiri and grand nephew Dayanidhi Maran also rose in the party ranks, Palaniswami said.

The AIADMK, however, was a "people's movement" where even a grassroots level worker could rise to great heights, he said. 

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