00:02All right, because as we've got our eyes firmly on Lok Bhavan, where Vijay has gone for the third time
00:09with a letter in hand with 118 signatures.
00:11Last time he was there was 112. But we're going to get you the inside track.
00:16So how Vijay with his numbers came together and how he nearly didn't.
00:21Because the left parties who have now pledged support, unconditional support at that to Vijay, have now made an explosive
00:29statement.
00:30And it seems that the left was being coerced by none else but their ally DMK to support who? The
00:39AIDMK.
00:40So all that talk, all what was laid as shared conspiracy theories has now been exposed by one of the
00:47allies of the DMK saying that it was the left, it was DMK who wanted us to go with it
00:53to offer outside support to the AIDMK and form government.
00:59Well, joining me for more is Mr. M.A. Baby, General Secretary, CPIM.
01:06Thank you, sir, for taking the time out and joining us this evening.
01:09You've had a last tumultuous 48 hours deciding whether to leave your ally or not.
01:15I want to ask you right off the bat, what made you decide to go ahead and form an alliance
01:20with the TVK and leave DMK?
01:29You see, the verdict of the Tamil Nadu people was very clear.
01:36It was in favor of TVK.
01:39TVK of Vijay turned out to be the single largest party, short of few seats to cross the halfway mark
01:50of majority.
01:52So the governor should have invited the leader of the largest party to form the government.
01:58That has been the practice.
02:00That is the practice followed when BJP was the single largest party in Lok Sabha.
02:05Vajpayeeji was invited and he remained as prime minister for 13 days.
02:11In this particular case, TVK had a shortage of only 11 seats, if I remember correctly.
02:20And now we have offered support in this particular case because we felt that BJP, which is ruling the union
02:31government,
02:32through the governor, has been trying to manipulate the verdict of the people in Tamil Nadu.
02:38So to prevent BJP from interfering with the people's verdict in Tamil Nadu, we, CPIM, CPI and VCK,
02:52together we have six members.
02:57Already TVK is short of, you know, four or five members.
03:02So once we extend support, now Tamil Nadu government has no, Tamil Nadu governor has no option but to invite
03:11Mr. Joseph Vijay, the leader of TVK.
03:17Mr. Baby, we've got our eyes peeled on Lok Bhavan, where your signatories, four of your MLAs,
03:24two from CPIM and two from CPI, have been given to Vijay.
03:30He's gone inside Lok Bhavan.
03:31But I want to ask you one key question, MABB, and that question is,
03:35what made you leave your trusted old ally, DMK?
03:39The DMK very upset with the Congress as well for leaving it.
03:43You see, Congress just walked out of DMK front without any consultation.
03:51In our case, we had consultation with Mr. Stalin.
03:55Our Tamil Nadu leaders had meetings with Mr. Stalin.
03:59Then this idea was being broached that DMK will support a government led by a DMK.
04:11And DMK wish that we also support that kind of an arrangement.
04:18A DMK was defeated in the election.
04:21DMK was also defeated.
04:23We were part of DMK front.
04:25So we lost.
04:27In this particular case, we are not forming the government.
04:30We are extending support to the single largest party in Tamil Nadu Assembly.
04:36And BJP and RSS, they are trying to prevent the single largest party from coming into office of the chief
04:44minister.
04:45So this is an extraordinary situation.
04:48Mr. Baby, what you're saying is tectonic.
04:51What you're saying is huge.
04:52Because in somewhat manner, it exposes the DMK.
04:56So you are saying, sir, that the DMK wanted to support the AIDMK and was also asking you to do
05:04so.
05:05And you did not agree with it.
05:06So before the DMK and the AIDMK could get numbers, you decided to support the TVK.
05:13This is huge, sir.
05:14So the DMK was trying to form a government with the AIDMK.
05:20No.
05:21DMK told us that they are in favor of supporting from outside an AIDMK government.
05:29And other details, there is no need to discuss with us.
05:33So DMK was fair enough to consult with us what DMK wished to do.
05:42That's big, sir.
05:43That is big.
05:44So you're practically saying that the DMK wanted to support the AIDMK and you did not want to do so.
05:51I want to ask you, sir, are you in?
05:55I'm going to come back to you, Saith.
05:57You can hold on for just a moment.
05:58I'm going to cut across to Pramod, who is right now outside the Lok Bhavan, where you have Vijay from
06:06the TVK, who's gone inside.
06:08But if we have Akshita, let's cut across to her for a quick comment.
06:11And I'm back with Mr. Baby after that.
06:12And Akshita, this is huge because here you...
06:16All right, we don't have Akshita or Pramod.
06:18Let's cut across back to Mr. Baby.
06:21MA Baby, what you have just said is huge.
06:25So the DMK, you're saying, asked you to support the AIDMK in that endeavor.
06:31Did the Congress speak to the left parties, sir, today, you know, to get support?
06:36Or you decided on your own that we need to now move out of this alliance, especially the DMK, because
06:43it's going the AIDMK way and support TVK?
06:48No, DMK wish that we to follow the approach of DMK.
06:55But it has been decided that our leaders would meet Mr. Thiru, Mutuvel Karnamithi, Stalin, and explain.
07:06We are not, you know, saying that we are going to oppose DMK.
07:11But we cannot accept the political line to support ADMK, which was part of BJP, which was part of the
07:25NDA alliance.
07:27So that's the point.
07:28Sir, I understand.
07:30So you're saying you could not support the DMK's political line to support the AIDMK.
07:36You've made that very clear.
07:37I want to ask you one quick question.
07:38Will you be part of the government or which is or supported from outside?
07:42You've offered unconditional support.
07:44What are the conditions to this unconditional support?
07:49Mr. Vijay wrote to us, wrote to CPM, wrote to CPI, and wrote to VCK.
07:55Our parties independently discuss.
07:58We mutually discuss.
08:00Then it has been decided by us that we will communicate to Mr. Thiru, Mutuvel Karnamithi, Stalin,
08:07that this is the stand we are going to take because BJP is playing.
08:13BJP is trying to create a situation which would be advantageous to BJP.
08:20We want to prevent that.
08:22We wanted to defend secularism.
08:24We wanted to defend federalism.
08:27And also we wanted to defend the general essence of the verdict of the election.
08:32Tamil Nadu people wanted a change.
08:35They overwhelmingly voted for TVK.
08:39And TVK turned out to be the single largest party, short of few seats for majority.
08:46Mr. Baby, one quick question before you let us, you know, we let you go.
08:50Big news you've given us, sir.
08:51You've practically said that the DMK wanted to support the AIDMK.
08:55Now, I want to ask you, on a state level, you've moved out of that alliance with the DMK.
08:59Are you going back into that alliance at a national level?
09:02Where do you stand?
09:03Is there an India alliance at all anymore?
09:06Are you still with the DMK on a national level?
09:10We are now, we have now decided to extend support to Mr. Joseph Vijay to form a government,
09:20a TVK government.
09:22We are supporting that government.
09:25Other things...
09:26You'll be part of the government, sir, or outside?
09:28No, we have not taken any decision about that.
09:32That we will discuss.
09:33We will cross the bridge when we reach the bridge.
09:41All right, MA Baby, thank you for joining us.
09:44You know, there seems to be a bit of confusion at our PCR end.
09:46We're going to just try and correct that.
09:48But thank you, Mr. Baby, for joining us with all that explosive news that you have come up with
09:53and given us that practically means that the DMK wanted to support the AIDMK from the outside.
09:59Bye-bye.
09:59Bye-bye.
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