Keen on fixing party image, Stalin meets Sonia, Rahul

Keen on fixing the image of his party following the ruckus caused by DMK MLAs in the House during the confidence vote, DMK working president M K Stalin on Friday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Stalin scotched the talk of his party attempting “backdoor entry” to rise to power in Tamil Nadu by causing a rift in the ruling AIADMK.

Stalin had on Thursday met President Pranab Mukherjee seeking his intervention for a fresh secret vote to decide whether the Palaniswamy ministry in Tamil Nadu indeed enjoyed confidence of the state Assembly.

He is understood to have conveyed to Sonia Gandhi, party vice president Rahul Gandhi as well as the President that the Palaniswamy government was fragile. “Even the passing of the state Budget was fraught with possibilities of a danger to the government,” the DMK leader said.

The AIADMK ministry could be in trouble even if 10 MLAs vote against the Budget. Stalin said, Palaniswami, despite having won the trust vote, does not enjoy the support of his party MLAs as they are upset with the “stranglehold” of the Sasikala family.

He claimed that the DMK had spurned the offer by 30 AIADMK MLAs, who were kept in a resort before the February 18 vote, to back a government headed by him.