Chennai: As the Left parties intensified their attack on TVK, school education minister A Rajmohan said TVK govt was not dependent on anyone for its functioning.“We are relying on the people’s support, no one else,” Rajmohan told reporters. However, he downplayed the criticism by Left party leaders and said their ties with TVK were firm.Rajmohan said the Left party leaders were entitled to criticise the govt. “At the same time, they should clarify their stand on the attempts to bury Pocso case against granite baron Veeramani,” he said. CPM state secretary P Shanmugam responded that govt should take stern action against those who allegedly protected those involved in the case. However, he continued the attack on TVK govt, saying it should not hide behind the alleged flaws of the previous govt.Shanmugam also said TVK candidates in Madurantakam and Dharapuram are being chased away by the people when they visit villages seeking votes. He attributed the public anger to the candidates having contested the April 23 assembly election on AIADMK tickets and now seeking re-election from the same constituencies after switching to TVK. “Why are they contesting again? If they wanted to be MLAs, they could have continued,” he said.Shanmugam accused TVK leaders of trying to divert attention by questioning the Left parties instead of responding to criticism over the defections and bypolls.Meanwhile, CPM MP Su Venkatesan hit back at minister Aadhav Arjuna for his remarks alleging silence by Left party leaders over corruption during the previous DMK govt. He said the communist parties had consistently spoken against corruption and questioned whether TVK ministers would raise their voice against governor for withholding sanction to prosecute former ministers. Venkatesan said TVK should support the Left candidates in the bypolls if the govt was against corruption.
