'Lock up' party office: DMK's swipe at Palaniswami for holding seat-sharing talks in Delhi

Chennai: The ruling DMK on Friday took a swipe at AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami for holding seat-sharing talks in Delhi with the BJP, indicating it was unprecedented as the opposition party was leading the NDA in Tamil Nadu.

In a sarcastic tone, DMK leader and state minister K N Nehru asked the AIADMK to lock its headquarters here, wondering how the Tamil Nadu-based party leading the coalition could have the seat-sharing talks in the national capital.

Similar to investigating agencies sending summons, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has invited Palaniswami for seat-sharing talks, Nehru alleged about Palaniswami's meeting with the BJP leader.

In a statement, the DMK principal secretary said, "if AIADMK is leading the NDA in Tamil Nadu, then seat-sharing talks should have taken place at its headquarters in Chennai. But, Palaniswami is holding talks at Amit Shah's residence." "Not even once have seat-sharing talks been held at the office of the party that is supposed to lead the alliance. Neither have the discussions happened at the Chennai residence of Palaniswami." Nehru questioned whether the meeting could not be held at the AIADMK headquarters at Royapettah built by its late founder M G Ramachandran.

In a swipe at Palaniswami, he said: "You may lock the party headquarters in Avvai Shanmugham Salai in Royapettah until the elections are over." "The party leading the alliance should allocate seats to BJP, PMK, AMMK and others. That has been the tradition under the late party leaders Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa. But now, Palaniswami is waiting at another party leader's house asking for more seats for his own party. That shows how things have changed", Nehru said.

Noting that it was the third visit of Palaniswami to Delhi, Nehru said, "each time decisions are made after consulting Amit Shah." "Is this All India Anna DMK or Amit Shah DMK? Even (AMMK leader) TTV Dhinakaran and PMK Leader Anbumani Ramadoss meeting Amit Shah showing they are no less dependent." "AIADMK which should be deciding seat allocation, cannot even decide how many seats it will contest and is waiting at the door step of Amit Shah. Party workers themselves wonder whether the real power lies elsewhere," he remarked.