Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 21 : Union Minister and Tamil Nadu BJP's election incharge, Piyush Goyal, on Tuesday called Chief Minister MK Stalin "divisive" and "anti-India".
Slamming Stalin for his calling delimitation an attempt to "punish" progressive states and referring to the BJP as "anti-Tamil Nadu", Piyush Goyal claimed that the NDA will be under AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi Palaniswami.
"Tamil Nadu will give a resounding victory to the NDA under Edappadi Palaniswami. The whole problem with Mr Stalin is that he is divisive; he cannot accept India as one country. It is a dangerous statement that he is making. MK Stalin and his son, and the Stalin family, are anti-India, anti-Tamil Nadu," the BJP leader told ANI.
Earlier, the Union Minister lambasted the DMK and the Congress accusing them of betraying women by not letting the Women's Reservation Bill pass in Parliament,.
"They have hurt the interests of the women of India who are eagerly looking forward to getting one third reservation in parliament, in legislatures in the 2029 Lok Sabha election and onwards. PM Modi is very keen that our sisters and daughters and the women of India get their rightful share in the political process in India. But sadly, the Gandhi family of the Congress, the Banerjee family of West Bengal and the Stalin family of Tamil Nadu have totally failed the women of India... We were increasing 50% of the seats proportionally so that every state would get the same proportion of seats without any discrimination between states... What the Congress and DMK, Mr. Stalin have done is create a situation where Southern states will be at a disadvantage if the women's reservation is sought to be done as per the original law... So I would like to ask Mr. Stalin, why is he anti-Tamil Nadu?... Why does he not want us to maintain the same proportion of seats for the southern states including Tamil Nadu that they have now," he said.
This comes after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin hit out at the Centre over the proposed delimitation exercise, calling it an attempt to "punish" progressive states like Tamil Nadu.
In a video message posted on X, Stalin framed the issue as one that threatens the state's growth model, linking it to population control and industrial success.
Taking a direct swipe at the Centre, Stalin said, "Last week, the delimitation bill introduced by the BJP-led Union Government appeared to be an attempt to punish us, a state that has controlled population growth and is among the best-performing in industrial development. As soon as this bill was introduced, I was the first to oppose it and lead protests, including burning copies of the bill. The fire we lit has reduced that bill to ashes."
He accused the BJP of attempting to impose "communal narratives" in the state, while dismissing allegations that the DMK was anti-Hindu.
"Parties like the BJP are spreading false propaganda that the DMK is anti-Hindu. The DMK is never against Hindus. Under our rule, consecration ceremonies have been conducted for thousands of temples, and temple lands worth 7,000 crore rupees have been recovered," Stalin said.
The Secular Progressive Alliance, led by the DMK, is looking to retain power against the AIADMK-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The polling for elections will take place on April 23, with the counting of votes on May 4.