No demand for cabinet share: CPI State secretary Veerapandian

CPI State secretary M. Veerapandian on Thursday said his party had made no demand for power-sharing in Tamil Nadu.

Speaking to reporters at Karaikudi here, he said, “I thank Chief Minister M.K. Stalin for establishing a memorial hall for freedom fighter Jeeva.”

It was not right for BJP and AIADMK to misinterpret the ongoing protests as being against the government. “Many protests are held simply to emphasise specific demands, and we support such causes. The Tamil Nadu government should hold talks with the protesters to find solutions,” he further said.

“Opposition parties are portraying Chennai as a city of murders, but it is actually a city of harmony and art. The Chief Minister is taking legal action on law-and-order issues,” he added.

“The DMK-led alliance is based on ideology, whereas the opposition is an alliance of intimidated individuals without principles. The people of Tamil Nadu will not accept their rhetoric. The DMK government’s welfare schemes have effectively reached the public. Mr. Stalin himself has admitted that there are shortcomings and unfulfilled demands. However, the State Government is unable to fulfil some of these because the Union government has withheld funds,” Mr. Veerapandian said.

The Centre was attempting to implement a ‘dual-governance’ system in Tamil Nadu through the Governor and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who once spoke of ‘One Nation, One Government,’ was now speaking of dual governance. “It is natural for differences of opinion to arise within an alliance. We will resolve these through dialogue. In the DMK alliance, there is democratic freedom to express views. The CPI has no demand for a share in the government. Our goal is to secure more seats and achieve a 100% success rate,” he said.

Those in the opposition who were fighting against each other until yesterday were now supporting one another and the people of Tamil Nadu would give them a fitting verdict on this, he added.