Ramadoss flies third front kite

NAGERCOIL: If people wish and time permits, the PMK will form and lead a third-front in Tamil Nadu, said PMK founder, Dr Ramadoss here on Tuesday.
On the sidelines of a students’ conference, Ramadoss told reporters that the decision to make an exit from the AIADMK-led alliance was taken after the party’s credibility and self-efficacy became a matter of question during the brief association with AIADMK.
Coming down heavily on the AIADMK, he said that it is not the party that it once was, thanks to growing factionalism and confusion within the party. Many might not be aware that a large number of members left the party to join the DMK before the commencement of the Lok Sabha election earlier this year.
“The AIADMK has become weak and demoralised in the absence of a genuine leadership,” he charged.
He said that the DMK and the AIADMK were successfully contesting the Assembly polls independently until the year 1996 and formed government alternately. During those days, PMK used to grab four assembly segments independently. After 1996, there was a dramatic change in the State, which led to coalition culture. Though the other alliance put up stiff competition in the last parliamentary election, the DMK came victorious through malpractices and vote rigging. “If every party agrees to sign an accord promising to contest the forthcoming Assembly polls in the State independently, PMK will be the first party to sign with contentment. The State needs a change,” he said.
Ramadoss told reporters his party would stage three-pronged protest demanding common school education system, protecting river water rights of Mullaiperiyar, Cauvery and Palar and implementing prohibition