AIADMK leaders on Thursday took different stands on the action to be taken against H. Raja for his controversial Facebook post.
Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisami, during an interaction with the media at the AIADMK headquarters, said the BJP leader’s post – “uploaded by his admin” – was condemnable. Even if the post was made without his knowledge, it should be condemned, Mr. Palaniswami said without pressing for any further action on Mr. Raja’s part.
However, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, demanded a public apology from Mr. Raja. Terming the comments as ridiculous, he refused to accept Mr. Raja’s argument that the post was uploaded by his admin. “It has hurt the public sentiments. Therefore, Mr. Raja should publicly apologise,” he demanded.
Later in the evening, the two leaders sought to take a joint stand on the issue and issued a statement through the party stating that Mr. Raja’s post had created a volatile situation in the State. “The voices opposing it has created ripples in the country and show how deeply Tamils love Periyar. Without Periyar, the Tamils would not be a self-respecting race,” they said.
Stating that this was Periyar’s land where people lived in harmony, the AIADMK leaders said some people were trying to create trouble and fish in it but their intentions would not succeed. Amma’s (Jayalalithaa) rule would never allow it, they said.
Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar told reporters that the public should ignore Mr. Raja’s comments “made for the sake of cheap publicity.” If he continued [with his comments], then he should be put behind bars, the Minister said.
