DMK will always be No 1; contest within Oppn for 2nd spot: Stalin

Don't want to miss the best from Business Standard?

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday said the competition among opposition parties is to "secure the second place" and the DMK we will always get to the "first place" and be the winner in elections.

Addressing an Iftar event at Kolathur here, Stalin said although many parties hold Iftar events, they do not not "open their mouth when Muslims are harmed." Be it the Citizenship Amendment Act, the abrogation of Article 370 or anything that was detrimental to the interests of the minorities, "the first voice of opposition" always came from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

Even now, the DMK is continuously fighting against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, since August 2024, in both the Parliament and Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) and the Tamil Nadu Assembly has adopted a resolution urging the Centre to withdraw this Bill that "betrayed" the Muslims.

Several Indian Muslim organisations, within the country, including Tamil Nadu, and several of them at a global level are lauding the DMK. Leader of the Opposition, Edappadi K Palaniswami, howver, did not even take part in the Assembly proceedings when the resolution was taken up for passage.

"You know why," he said and referred to Palaniswami's visit to Delhi days ago when he met Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Stalin said Shah is responsible for getting the Waqf amendment Bill passed and Palaniswami met such a person.

The CM said the AIADMK supported the resolution that sought withdrawal of the Bill just for the sake of it.

Stalin said the Leader of Opposition had been maintaining all along that the AIADMK would be the next ruling party, following Assembly polls in 2026. The CM alleged that Palaniswami, however, during an interaction with journalists on March 29 in Salem commented that AIADMK would be the main opposition party.

Stalin said: "This is the situation today. The competition among them (opposition) is now for the second place. As far as we are concerned, we will always get to the first place; we are (and we will be) the ruling party."  Further, the DMK president said that he did not make that claim out of arrogance, but it was made considering the popular support to the government.

Palaniswami (while answering a question related to actor-politician and Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam chief Vijay's claim that the contest will be between his party, the TVK and the ruling DMK, in the 2026 Assembly polls) agreed to the casual observation of a journalist that the AIADMK is currently the principal opposition party.

On March 27, the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a resolution against the Centre's proposed Waqf amendment Bill 2024 and insisted that the Union Government recall it since it would badly affect the Muslims.