Polls will say who must rest, AIADMK tells DMK chief Karunanidhi

CHENNAI: Hitting back at DMK president Karunanidhi for asking party chief and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to take rest, AIADMK today said people would decide who should rest in the next year Assembly polls on the lines of their last year Lok Sabha election verdict when DMK could not win a single seat.

AIADMK said people's verdict in 2016 polls will be a repeat of last year's Lok Sabha election results in Tamil Nadu when DMK could not win a single seat. The ruling party went on to bag 37 out of 39 seats in the polls.

"People are waiting to repeat their 2014 Lok Sabha verdict by giving zero seats to Karunanidhi's party," AIADMK Tamil daily Dr Namadhu MGR said today.

"People will give a right verdict in the 2016 State Assembly elections (like the Lok Sabha polls) on who should take rest," AIADMK said attributing the view to its allies.

Samathuva Makkal Katchi chief R Sarathkumar, Indiya Kudiyarasu Katchi chief SK Tamilarasan, Moovendar Munnetra Kazhagam president GM Sridhar Vandayar, Tamil Maanila Muslim League chief Sheikh Dawood, Indian National League's Jawahar Ali, were the allies quoted by the AIADMK.

On July 7, Karunanidhi said "Tamil Nadu is a state without a Chief Minister, she is not doing her job since she is not well and that is why she should take rest."

He said this in reference to the AIADMK supremo skipping an Iftar event hosted by her party here on July 1.

In a message read out by Finance Minister O Panneerselvam in the Iftar, Jayalalithaa had said that she could not attend the event as she was not keeping well.

Next day, Karunanidhi had said that the state government should give details of Jayalalithaa's illness as people would be interested in knowing it.

AIADMK said, "The 92-year old DMK chief made the rest remark as he was unable to stomach the growing popularity of the Chief Minister due to a slew of welfare schemes."

Also, Karunanidhi was slammed for holding on to the party top post despite beign a nonagenarian and his "rest remark" was like Satan quoting scriptures, it alleged.