DMDK to support PMK in Puducherry

Chennai, April 11 (IANS) DMDK, the second largest party in the state assembly, Friday announced its support to the PMK candidate in the Puducherry Lok Sabha constituency, giving the latter a boost.

In a statement issued here DMDK leader A.Vijayakant said the party would support PMK candidate R.K.R. Anantharaman in Puducherry.

He urged his party workers to extend full support to the PMK candidate.

Curiously the DMDK and PMK were not seeing eye-to-eye prior to joining the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP.

Apparently it was PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss who was instrumental in convincing his father and party founder S.Ramadoss to align with the NDA in which the DMDK is also a partner.

The DMDK's decision to support PMK in Puducherry ends the long suspense about the party's stance.

The decision is expected to have a positive rub off effect in Tamil Nadu where the stakes are high for both the parties.

While Puducherry has only one Lok Sabha seat, there are 39 seats in Tamil Nadu.

The MDMK, another coalition partner in Tamil Nadu, will also be supporting the PMK candidate.

The BJP has aligned with the ruling NR Congress in Puducherry.

In a statement issued here, PMK president G.K.Mani said it was heartening to see cadres belonging to all the six parties in the alliance (BJP, DMDK, MDMK, PMK, IJK and KMDK) working together in the field.