Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa-BJP war hits new peak

Campaigning for the AIADMK’s Mayor candidate for the September 18 bypoll in Thoothukudi, she told the huge turnout it would be a big mistake voting for a national party (BJP) in the civic polls since that party would have different leaderships at the state and Central levels, quite often in conflict over vital issues. Thoothukudi, she pointed out, has a large fishermen population and the BJP betrayed them in their problems with the Sri Lankan Navy.

While the BJP state leaders said there should be a permanent solution to the fishermen problem, one leader in that party “is openly acting against the interests of the Tamil Nadu fishermen”. Though she did not name him, it was obvious that the CM was referring to Subramanian Swamy, who had earned the wrath of TN fishermen and political outfits in the state after boasting that he had advised President Mahinda Rajapaksa to release the arrested TN fishermen while holding back their boats.

The BJP state unit would not condemn Swamy and the Centre chose to keep mum though she brought it to the notice of Prime Minister Modi. Just a couple of hours earlier, BJP’s Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan was displaying currency notes at a press conference in Coimbatore and claiming that his party persons picked them up after some AIADMK campaigners threw the money on the road when challenged by BJP workers at Goundanpalayam.

The AIADMK, he alleged, was distributing cash to the voters and also misusing official power. He wanted the state election commission to cancel the elections and if that did not happen, all the other parties should support the BJP candidates “to uphold democracy”, he declared. His state party president Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan has been saying the same thing these past few days.