Chennai: DMK President M.K. Stalin on Sunday said opposition leaders who participated in the anti-BJP meet in Kolkata on Saturday did not question him for announcing Congress President Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Ministerial candidate. Speaking at a wedding he attended here, Stalin said the political situation in different states varied, reports IANS. He said the party leaders in Kolkata were of the view that they would voice their view on the Prime Ministerial candidate post the Lok Sabha elections.
According to Stalin, none of the party leaders said he was wrong in announcing Gandhi’s name as the Prime Ministerial candidate. “I had announced Gandhi’s name at a function organised by DMK. It was our function. I voiced the feelings of the Tamil Nadu people,” Stalin said, in response to media reports as to why he didn’t reiterate the wish at the Kolkata meeting.
The BJP on Sunday said DMK president M K Stalin could not reiterate his ‘Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for Prime Minister pitch’ in the Opposition rally at Kolkata and it showed that he has diverged from his avowed stand, reports PTI. Stalin, however, said he continued to be firm in his stand of “Rahul for PM.”
“Stalin said Rahul Gandhi will be the PM candidate in Chennai. He could not say so at Kolkata,” BJP Tamil Nadu unit president Tamilisai Soundararajan said here adding such contradictions outlined the contours of the Opposition front. Later, speaking to reporters in Madurai, the BJP leader said, “had Stalin been consistent in his stand why did not he say that he proposed Rahul Gandhi for the post Prime Minister at the mega Kolkatta rally attended by over 20 parties. Criticising Stalin for diverging from his previous stand of supporting Rahul Gandhi for the post of Prime Minister she said, such deviation showed “his hesitancy and obstacles.”