DMK minorities wing secretary Masthan said on Saturday that he had only paid a courtesy call on AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi and no decision was taken about inviting him to the party’s public meeting scheduled here for January 6.
“We wanted to make a formal announcement only after consulting our allies. But before that, a video-recording of our meeting was released. We do not know who had done it,” Mr. Masthan, a former MP, told The Hindu. The public meeting — ‘Ithyangalai Inaippom’ (Let us unite hearts) — is organised by minorities wing.
Asked whether the Congress favoured inviting Mr. Owaisi to the meeting as his party had spoiled the chances of the grand alliance in the Bihar election, Mr. Masthan said those issues were not discussed as everything was at a preliminary stage.
“We never went into those issues. The meeting will be attended only by our alliance partners,” Mr. Masthan said.
When his opinion was sought on the issue, IUML leader K.M. Kader Mohideen said he was not against inviting Mr. Owaisi.
“Our objective is to defeat the BJP and prevent it from gaining a hold in Tamil Nadu,” he said.
