EPS made poll pact a condition for quota, alleges Anbumani

PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss holding a mango, the party’s symbol. File photo | Photo Credit: The Hindu

Pattali Makkal Katchi president Anbumani Ramadoss on Wednesday reiterated his charge that former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami pressured his party to sign the pact with the AIADMK for the 2021 Assembly election for enacting legislation to provide Vanniyars with 10.5% reservation within the MBC quota.

Addressing a meeting in the Dharmapuri Lok Sabha constituency, where his wife Sowmiya is in the fray, he alleged that the then AIADMK government enacted the legislation, in a hurry, with a lot of loopholes.

“That is why, the Supreme Court had struck down the law. Mr. Palaniswami pressured the PMK to sign the seat-sharing agreement a few hours before the announcement of the election (as a condition) to enact the reservation Bill,” he said.

“Even after the court struck down the law, AIADMK leaders from this region had never fought for the rights of the Vanniyars. The PMK is not new to the National Democratic Alliance. We have partnered with the BJP in several elections in the past. The PMK has never sacrificed its principles for electoral alliances,” he said.

“There is no link between the DMK in its present form and social justice,” Mr. Anbumani said. He also accused the outgoing DMK MP, S. Senthilkumar, of “not implementing any development projects in Dharmapuri”.

Water supply scheme

Speaking at the event, PMK founder S. Ramadoss said many from Dharmapuri started migrating to Bengaluru for livelihood. “It is important to improve the infrastructure of this region. I fought for the formation of six districts in the State and implementation of several infrastructure projects,” he said, urging the people of Dharmapuri to vote for his daughter-in-law, Ms. Sowmiya, to take forward the second phase of the Hogenakkal Integrated Drinking Water Scheme and other development projects.

Ms. Sowmiya said she received a rousing reception from the people of Dharmapuri during her campaign in the past week and promised to take forward the Dharmapuri-Morappur railway project and complete it at the earliest.