The PMK general council authorised its president S Ramadoss to finalise the party's stand on rejoining the NDA at the Centre. Many speakers at the general council meeting favoured renewal of ties with the NDA. A resolution authorising Ramadoss to take a final decision in this regard was adopted at the meeting. Ramadoss' decision to snap ties with the AIADMK-led secular front in the state was also supported at the meeting. The resolution said that the party leader was 'humiliated' by AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa and therefore it would not be possible for the party to continue in the secular front any more. The members also urged the Centre to take action against police officials who had allegedly assaulted former chief minister M Karunanidhi while arresting him on June 30. Another resolution adopted at the meeting condemned as sheer opportunism, the AIADMK joining the coalition government headed by congress in Pondicherry after contesting against the congress in the union territory.
The party members at the meeting said that Prime Minister A B Vajpayee never failed to respect the party. PMK, they said, was not expelled from the NDA front but it came out of the front on its own.
Bureau Report