AIADMK now is not Jayalalithaa's AIADMK, DMK is arrogant: Asaduddin Owaisi ahead of Tamil Nadu Assembly polls

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday slammed the two Dravidian majors-- DMK and AIADMK, accusing them of deviating from their principles and compromising for political gains.

In stark contrast to the two parties, T T V Dhinakaran's Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), with whom he has forged an alliance for the April 6 Tamil Nadu polls, is emerging as a viable political alternative in the state, he said.

Addressing a well-attended rally organised by the AMMK here, sharing the dais with Dhinakaran, Owaisi said, "both the ruling AIADMK and the opposition DMK drifted from Annas (late chief minister C N Annadurai) path".

The present AIADMK, he said, was not the party that it was when late chief minister J Jayalalithaa was at the helm. "The AIADMK that you see now is not the AIADMK of madam Jayalalithaa, who kept away the BJP from entering Tamil Nadu. The party has now become subservient to Modi," he alleged.

Also read: DMK names candidates for 173 seats; to fight rival AIADMK in over 100 seats in Tamil Nadu assembly election

Training his guns on the DMK, Owaisi accused the party of duplicity in its claims of being secular. "DMK leader M K Stalin should explain if his party and ally Congress considered Shiv Sena, which is in alliance with the Congress in Maharashtra, secular or communal," he asked.

He also accused Congress of backing the BJP government's amendment to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. "While on the one hand, DMK's ally claimed to be secular, on the other it supported the Centre on the "draconian" law," he said.

On the charge from some sections that AMMK was the "B team of the BJP," Owaisi said Dhinakaran was politically mature to respect leaders and minorities. "His AMMK is the only party which can secure the interests of the poor and the minorities," he said.

AIMIM is seeking to make its foray into Tamil Nadu and has joined the AMMK-led alliance from which it will be contesting three seats--Vaniyambadi, Krishnagiri and Sankarapuram.

Hitting out at DMK, Owaisi said "unfortunately, DMK lacks political courtesy and became the most arrogant party," recalling the incident when the Dravidian party's minority wing invited him to attend a conference in Chennai, which he obliged and the party later denied the meeting. "If they do something like this to me, imagine what they can to the common people," Owaisi said.

Meanwhile, Dhinakaran released his party's manifesto for the polls, at the rally. The promises include a "corruption-free Tamil Nadu," the "Amma Economic Revolution Scheme" that will provide jobs for one person in every household, various pro-industry initiatives, port management, creation of additional assembly constituencies, better medical care for the poor, sops to the farm sector, river inter-linking and a subsidy of Rs 100 for one LPG cylinder a month.