Fruit slipped and fell down, says D Jayakumar

Chennai: Describing the AIADMK’s defeat in the Vellore Lok Sabha election as nothing but a “slip,” AIADMK senior and State fisheries minister D. Jayakumar claimed the poll outcome will not be a setback for his party in the 2021 Assembly elections.

“This will never affect the AIADMK’s prospects in future. Our party will return to power in the 2021 Assembly election,” he said on Friday. Reacting to the defeat of ally NJP’s A. C. Shanmugam in Vellore who lost by a thin margin of 8,141 votes to DMK’s Kathir Anand, Mr. Jayakumar said, “we expected the fruit to fall in the milk. But is slipped and fell down.” The outcome of the Lok Sabha election cannot affect the AIADMK’s prospects in the Assembly election, he added.

On the DMK’s victory, Mr. Jayakumar said “it was a victory for money power wielded by the DMK. It is a worst and fraudulent victory.”

Speaking to reporters at the airport here, the Minister accused the DMK of winning the election through deception.

In April, the election commission has rescinded the election to Vellore Lok Sabha constituency alone following the recovery of huge sums of unaccounted cash from DMK leader’ premises in Vellore. While Shanmugam who contested on the Two Leaves symbol of the AIADMK polled 4,77,199 votes and got 46.51 per cent share, DMK’s Kathir Anand, who is son of party treasurer Duraimurugan, won the Vellore Lok Sabha seat by a narrow margin of 8,141 votes. He had secured 4,85,340 votes and garnered a vote share of 47.3 per cent.

Meanwhile, a joint statement issued by AIADMK coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and Co-Coordinator and CM Edappadi K. Palaniswami said the party did not construe it as a defeat because Shanmugam lost by a thin margin. “Moreover, the increase in vote share indicates that people have reposed faith on the AIADMK, which will “snatch the fruits of victory” they said.