The BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit on Friday filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (EC) seeking the disqualification of DMK candidate Udhaynidhi Stalin for his comments that late union ministers Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj died due to undue pressure from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Udhayanidhi’s comments are ridiculous, defamatory and libellous in nature, slandering the office of the Prime Minister,” said BJP’s general secretary Karu Nagarajan in his letter to the EC. The party has urged the EC to watch the video, which they say violates the model code of conduct, and to disqualify Udhaynidhi from contesting in the Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni constituency where he is making his debut, debar him from campaigning and also remove his name from the list of star campaigners of DMK.
Swaraj’s daughter Bansuri Swaraj took to Twitter and tagged the DMK youth wing leader’s handle to disapprove of his remarks. “...please do not use my mother’s memory for your poll propaganda. Your statements are false!,” she tweeted, adding that Modi had stood by her family ‘rock solid’. Arun Jaitley’s daughter Sonia Jaitley also tweeted a similar message saying, “...I know there is election pressure, but I won’t stay silent when you lie and disrespect my father’s memory.”
Udhaynidhi made the comments in reaction to Modi’s criticism against him. On Tuesday, Modi campaigned in Dharapuram for BJP’s state chief L Murugan where he said, “The uncrowned prince (Udhaynidhi) has sidelined several leaders in the DMK to come up.” On Wednesday, Udhaynidhi arrived in Dharapuram to campaign and sought to settle scores by reading out a list of the names of BJP leaders who he alleged that Modi had sidelined. “From being the CM of Gujarat, Modi successfully sidelined several senior leaders like LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi,” he said. “Yashwant Sinha left the party, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley died, unable to handle the pressure and torture of Modi.” He added that he is born out of the Dravidian self-respect movement and won’t be cowed down like others in the BJP.
{{/usCountry}}Udhaynidhi made the comments in reaction to Modi’s criticism against him. On Tuesday, Modi campaigned in Dharapuram for BJP’s state chief L Murugan where he said, “The uncrowned prince (Udhaynidhi) has sidelined several leaders in the DMK to come up.” On Wednesday, Udhaynidhi arrived in Dharapuram to campaign and sought to settle scores by reading out a list of the names of BJP leaders who he alleged that Modi had sidelined. “From being the CM of Gujarat, Modi successfully sidelined several senior leaders like LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi,” he said. “Yashwant Sinha left the party, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley died, unable to handle the pressure and torture of Modi.” He added that he is born out of the Dravidian self-respect movement and won’t be cowed down like others in the BJP.
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The ruling AIADMK-BJP combine has targeted the DMK of practising dynastic politics, especially after Udhayanidhi was given a ticket to contest from his grandfather’s borough in Chennai’s Chepauk. On Thursday, Amit Shah posed a question at a rally asking if the electorate wanted growth in Tamil Nadu or growth for Udhayanidhi Stalin. To this, Udhaynidhi retorted on the same day, “My growth isn’t important but that of Tamil Nadu is. But what growth did AIADMK bring in the last 10 years and what growth did BJP bring in the past seven years of governing?” He then went on to wonder how Shah’s son Jay Shah became the secretary of the Board of Control of Cricket (BCCI) at the age of 32. “He doesn’t even know how to play cricket,” said Udhyanidhi and read out from a paper that Jay Shah’s had assets worth ₹120 crore which had grown since the BJP came to power in 2014. Citing current BCCI president and former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly’s recent hospitalisation, he said BJP threatened him to join the party, leading to his heart attack.
Further, on Friday, Udaynidhi said that while O Palaniswami is a slave of Modi, the only person in India who has the guts to question the Prime Minister is his father and DMK president MK Stalin.
This is the second instance where the DMK has courted controversy this election. The EC on Thursday debarred DMK’s star campaigner and former union minister A Raja from campaigning for 48 hours for allegedly saying that chief minister E Palaniswami was a premature baby borne out of an illicit relationship. The AIADMK had complained against Raja and the police booked him under 153 (provocation with intent to cause riot) and 294b (foul language in a public place) of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 127 (Disturbances at election meetings) of the Representation of the People Act.