Thoothukudi/ Chennai: The BJP’s Tamil Nadu president Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan on Tuesday triggered a war of words with the DMK chief M K Stalin in claiming that he was negotiating a post-poll deal with her party leadership.
Reacting sharply, Stalin not only denied her allegation but also challenged her to prove it or else quit politics. On his part, he would leave politics altogether if she is able to deliver the proof.
Speaking to reporters at Thoothukudi, with AIADMK leader and state food minister R. Kamaraj seated next to her, Dr Tamilisai responded with a broad smile to a question whether Stalin was in talks with the BJP.
“That’s true and everyone knows it. They change colours — on one side Rahul, Chandrasekhar Rao on the other and Modi on another side”, she said, obviously taking into account the visit of the Telangana CM to Stalin’s place for talks on Monday.
The DMK had already explained that KCR had paid a ‘courtesy call’ but that did not cut ice with many. Senior AIADMK Minister D Jayakumar raised a question: “Courtesy call for over an hour?” In his opinion too, Stalin and the DMK have been in touch with the BJP in the hope they could get four or five Cabinet berths in return for the support of the DMK MPs. “DMK alone has the capability to sail in three boats at the same time,” the minister said.
Hitting back, Stalin said despite coming from a political family known for uprightness, Dr Tamilisai has now stooped low in uttering “a blatant lie”. It was he who had proposed Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the Opposition combine and it was he who had spearheaded the campaign to unseat Modi from being the PM.
The BJP was “sowing confusion” as it was now terrified being “on the verge of defeat”, Stalin said in a statement.
The DMK chief also recalled that he had consistently attacked Modi, described him as ‘fascist’, ‘sadist’ and ‘authoritarian’, whose government must be unseated in this election for heaping “untold miseries” upon the people in the last five years. And he has been talking against Modi not just in Tamil Nadu but also at the Mamata-sponsored rally of opposition parties in Kolkata.
And as for Telangana CM KCR, he had met him last year too while the Monday rendezvous was just a “courtesy call”, insisted Stalin. The DMK would not be involved in any “back door dealings” in making alliances. “DMK has been transparent. We have made clear who should be the Prime Minister and who should be not. DMK is determined Modi should not become PM again,” Stalin said, adding, “We are even more clear that Rahul Gandhi should head the next government”.
DMK ally Congress also hit out at Dr Tamilisai, with PCC president K S Alagiri accusing her of uttering falsehood “only out of desperation" and scared of the defeat in the elections. When even West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had refused to speak to Modi when he called her to discuss Cyclone Fani, "what is Stalin going to discuss with the PM?” asked Alagiri.
