Chennai: The ongoing war of words between the DMK and AIADMK turned more acrimonious on Tuesday with the barbs becoming personal and striking below the belt with State Municipal Administration Minister K N Nehru calling the Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami a ‘coward’ toeing the line of BJP and AIADMK headquarters secretary S P Velumani retaliating with charges of pusillanimity.
It all started with Palaniswami’s aggressive speech at the AIADMK general council meeting on Sunday when he not only ran down the DMK as a party that had lost its popularity and set to lose the 2026 Assembly elections but also assured his cadre of a ‘favourable’ alliance, which was variedly interpreted as joining hands with the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam of Vijay and also as a return to the BJP fold.
In his retort, State Law Minister S Regupathy told Palaniswami on Monday to speak the truth instead of raising his voice and gesticulating on the state Assembly, to which the AIADMK immediately struck back with former Minister and senior leader R B Udhayakumar saying that the DMK government was at the back feet when a direct question on the tungsten mining controversy was raised in the Assembly.
Udhayakumar asked why the DMK government took ten months to raise objections to the tungsten mining after the contract was awarded to Hindustan Zinc Limited and until the local villagers went up in arms against the project. He also pointed out that the DMK did not oppose the amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act when it was brought in.
Raising to defend the DMK government, State Municipal Administration Minister K N Nehru, in a statement on Tuesday, alleged that Palaniswami was terrified of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the Enforcement Directorate, the CBI, the Income Tax department, the Governor and raids.
Nehru said Palaniswami’s phobias were extending like the Great Wall of China that the AIADMK supported in Parliament the Bill that brought in CAA, the amendment to the Mines and Minerals Act that led to the tungsten exploration in Madurai became almost a reality and the National Food Safety Bill that was vehemently opposed by his former party chief, the late J Jayalalithaa.
Even now the AIADMK did not sign the memorandum seeking the removal of Justice Sekar Kumar of the Allahabad High Court for his anti-Muslim speech and kept silent when the BJP went against the provisions of the Places of Worship Act 1991 and put many disputed premises under scrutiny, he said
The AIADMK did not oppose the One Nation One Election legislation planned by the BJP and never spoke against the rise in prices of petrol and diesel, he said.
Responding to Nehru, Velumani said it was Nehru who cowered in fright for 10 years after his brother Ramajeyam was murdered, which even the DMK government could not crack during the three and a half years in office, and not the brave Palaniswami, whose dictionary did not have the word fear.
Velumani challenged Nehru on various issues like revealing the names of the people in the DMK who were identified as swindling Rs 30,000 crore by former State Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, and come out with the source of his income that enabled him to clear the family debts running to several crores of rupees.
To put it otherwise, both the DMK and AIADMK not only turned aggressive and acrimonious in defending themselves and also hitting back at the other through a string of personal attacks, but both were trying to expose the other of wrongdoings by playing the blame game.
