CHENNAI: State Minister MRK Panneerselvam’s remarks on migrant workers have sparked a war of words between the ruling and opposition parties.

The minister recently said that the north Indian workers come to Tamil Nadu to clean tables, sell pani puri and do construction work because they have studied only Hindi.

Stating that the minister’s remarks were “highly condemnable,” AIADMK spokesperson Kovai Sathyan said that people came to Tamil Nadu in search of a livelihood but were given a raw deal. “You would have seen how a migrant worker from Odisha was beaten,” he pointed out.