AIADMK boycotting Erode East bypoll to ensure that EPS leadership is not tarnished: DMK

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu PWD minister E V Velu on Saturday criticised the AIADMK for boycotting the by-election to the Erode East assembly constituency.

“This is not an election boycott. It is an arrangement made to ensure that (AIADMK general secretary) Edappadi K Palaniswami’s leadership is not tarnished,” he said.

In a statement, the senior DMK leader said Palaniswami lost ten elections, beginning with the Dr R K Nagar bypoll in 2017, followed by general elections, local body elections, and the assembly election.

“Palaniswami ran away from the field like a coward without contesting the election to clear his name,” he said, alleging that the AIADMK leader boycotted to not impact the votebank of his “master,” BJP. Velu sought to know whether the AIADMK would contest in 2026 or not.

On Palaniswami’s allegations that the govt had given him only two-minute footage of his three-hour long debate in the assembly on Friday, Velu said the previous AIADMK regime only recorded the ruling party and the opposition was ignored.

Velu said the chief minister exposed the AIADMK in the Anna University case by asking the latter to submit the evidence to SIT. The ‘who is that sir’ campaign of the AIADMK was a drama enacted by Palaniswami to hide the fact that the AIADMK functionary was involved in the Anna Nagar rape case, he alleged.