CHENNAI: Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin on Tuesday reprimanded his party MP from Dharmapuri Dr Senthilkumar for his controversial remark about the five-state Assembly polls.

In a statement, DMK organizing secretary R S Bharathi said that Stalin strongly reprimanded party MP Senthilkumar for using a term which could be misconstrued.

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Commenting on the five-state Assembly polls, Senthilkumar called them 'Gaumutra states", which triggered an outrage on social media with mainly right wing sympathizers criticising the DMK MP's choice of language.

Following the CM's reprimand, Senthilkumar, in a statement, publicly apologised for his choice of language. "While commenting on the five-state polls, I used a term, which could convey a wrong meaning. I did not use the term with any wrong intention. I publicly apologize for it, " Bharathi quoted Senthilkumar as saying in the statement.

Appealing to the DMK functionaries to maintain decorum while expressing views in public, the DMK organizing secretary also advised the party functionaries to follow the principle of "duty, dignity and discipline" and avoid expressing personal views on national issues.