Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], March 19 : Bharatiya Janata Party leader Tamilisai Soundararajan on Thursday said Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin and his son, Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, are diminishing the identity of Tamil culture.
Soundararajan said, "Even while extending Ugadi greetings, the Chief Minister MK Stalin is creating division and bringing up Hindi. This is not part of Tamil culture. The Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin are diminishing the identity of Tamil."
Adding to this, she said, "When you struggled and were in power, you could not bring respect for Tamil and Tamils even in the state of Uttar Pradesh. A person has lost his life in the anti-Hindi agitation, and I express my condolences for that loss. Do not use Hindi as a last weapon in this manner. I strongly condemn the attempt to take this election forward emotionally, repeatedly ignoring the basic needs of the people."
Responding to a question about Edappadi K Palaniswami's visit to Delhi, she replied that, "Parties like the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Communist Party of India are exerting pressure over constituencies. If there is a 'slave alliance,' it is the Indi alliance. You are forced to form your alliance by citing the Bharatiya Janata Party as the reason. Why did Kanimozhi Karunanidhi meet Rahul Gandhi in Delhi then? National parties and state parties meet alternately for administrative and cordial reasons."
She pointed out that while national leaders of the BJP (like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah) travelled to Tamil Nadu to meet regional leaders like Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS), DMK leaders like Kanimozhi were required to travel to Delhi to meet Congress leadership.
Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday announced that Tamil Nadu will go to the polls in a single phase on April 23, with counting of votes scheduled for May 4. The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has come into effect immediately, with the initiation of the election process for the 234-member state assembly, whose current tenure ends on May 10.