It’s wrong to link BJP and Alagiri: Vanathi

BJP state unit general secretary Vanathi Srinivasan dismissed talks that BJP was behind Alagiri, who was expelled from DMK in 2014, taking on his younger brother and party working president MK Stalin.

“It has become a routine to blame BJP for each and everything happening in Tamil Nadu and it is wrong to link BJP and Alagiri,” she told reporters here on the sidelines of an event where the party launched a drive to mobilise relief material for flood-hit people of Kerala.

Vanathi’s comments come on a day when DMK deputy general secretary Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan accused the BJP of trying to “divide the party.”

Srinivasan said even when Kamal Haasan launched his new political outfit, people said the BJP was behind it. She also rejected charges that the BJP was behind the decision of the Tamil Nadu government not to provide a place on the Marina Beach for the burial of Karunanidhi. 

Meanwhile, Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan refrained from commenting on the power struggle within the DMK. Speaking to reporters after visiting Sri Arunachaleshwarar Temple in Tiruvannamalai, he said DMK cadre and leaders like Stalin, Kanimozhi and Alagiri were capable of taking necessary decisions. Referring to Alagiri, he said, the latter has the capability to change the direction of any election and was responsible for the DMK winning many polls.

On the glass panes of a Minister’s car being broken by the DMK cadre at Karunanidhi’s funeral, he said this could have been the reason for Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami staying away from the event. The enmity between the Dravidian majors was their strength, he added.

Further speaking on the Prime Minister, Radhakrishnan said Narendra Modi had done more for Tamil Nadu than either of the Dravidian parties. His recent sanction of Rs 648 crore for the Palar- South Pennar link was one example of this, he added.

Commenting on the charges of BJP controlling the DMK and AIADMK, the Union Minister said, “This fear proves that the BJP could play a major role in Tamil Nadu in the near future.”