Tamil Nadu BJP vice-presidents V.P. Duraisamy and Karu Nagarajan on Thursday condemned AIADMK organisation secretary C. Ponnaiyan’s remarks that the BJP was trying to grow in Tamil Nadu at the expense of the AIADMK, and that the national party was engaged in ‘double-dealing’ on inter-State disputes.
The two leaders held separate press conferences to condemn Mr. Ponnaiyan’s comments, and urged the AIADMK to seek an explanation from him.
Mr. Duraisamy claimed that Mr. Ponnaiyan was vexed as he was not given a Rajya Sabha seat by the AIADMK, and asked why the principal Opposition party, with 65 MLAs, was “not raising people’s issues”. He claimed that the BJP, with just four MLAs, was fighting for the people every day.
“Let us keep ballot boxes with the people. Let them decide [who speaks for them]. We take up people’s issues every day. Who speaks about the law and order situation and corruption? It is the BJP. We don’t need anybody’s help to grow. We are growing because of our work,” he said.
Mr. Duraisamy said the AIADMK should have spoken about corruption in the State electricity utility and the law and order situation. “There have been 19 murders in the last month alone. They have not spoken about it,” he said.
He said a decision on the alliance between the two parties will be made by the BJP’s Parliamentary Board and the AIADMK leadership.
Mr. Nagarajan wondered why the AIADMK’s two leaders, Edappadi K. Palaniswami and O. Panneerselvam, were silent on Mr. Ponnaiyan’s comments. “We are sad that they are being mere bystanders to these statements by Mr. Ponnaiyan,” he said.
