Defunct in State, Cong muted on Kamaraj row, says Nainar Nagendran

CHENNAI: The state unit of the BJP on Friday questioned the silence of Congress leaders over a controversial remark by DMK MP Tiruchi Siva on former Chief Minister and Congress icon K Kamaraj.

BJP state president Nainar Nagendran criticised that the state unit of Congress has become defunct. “A doubt persists, if at all, there is Congress in Tamil Nadu.

There is hardly any objection from Congress as the party does not exist,” he said to the media on the sidelines of a visit by Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan to a textile unit in Netaji Apparel Park in Tirupur.

Nagendran was accompanied by the party’s past president, K Annamalai, who echoed a similar view, saying, “Even though the people are upset over such remarks by the DMK leader, the Congress leaders have failed to speak up as they became inoperative and only wanted to continue in the DMK’s alliance,” he said.

BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan said the Congress has been sticking to the DMK merely for votes. “Having defamed a great leader, Tiruchi Siva didn’t mind apologising, while Chief Minister MK Stalin is attempting to play down the whole issue.

Siva should first visit industrial units such as BHEL in Trichy brought in by Kamarajar that provide jobs to lakhs of people,” she said to the media in Coimbatore.

She further reiterated that there is no rift in the BJP-AIADMK alliance. Refusing to comment on the issue of coalition government in the State, Tamilisai, however, said such a formula is doing well in BJP-ruled states.

Meanwhile, Annamalai alleged that the law and order situation has deteriorated in the State under the DMK regime. He criticised the police for their shoddy investigation into the sexual assault of a minor girl in Tiruvallur district.