Senior AIADMK leader and former minister D. Jayakumar has criticized MDMK chief Vaiko, accusing him of being “ungrateful” for forgetting the support extended by the late AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections.Jayakumar pointed out that in 1998, Jayalalithaa had included the MDMK in her alliance, granting it five Lok Sabha seats. The MDMK won three of them, thereby securing official recognition as a political party in Tamil Nadu. He said this marked the party’s first presence in Parliament.
Jayakumar took issue with Vaiko’s recent description of his alliance with Jaya as a “political blunder,” calling such remarks unbecoming of his stature. He questioned Vaiko’s motives, suggesting that the MDMK chief may be seeking to please his current ally, the DMK, by criticizing Jaya.
In addition to the jibe at Vaiko, Jayakumar criticized the DMK-led state government for allegedly allowing bias in its treatment of political parties. He specifically mentioned that the government was reportedly preventing the AIADMK and allied parties like TVK from erecting flagpoles, asserting that such discrimination would not go unnoticed by the public as elections approach.