Hitting out at Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for denying appointment to AIADMK coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam when he visited Delhi recently, senior party leader and MP A. Anwar Raja on Sunday said the party never played the ‘second fiddle’ to the Narendra Modi government at the Centre but offered only issue-based support to it.
Addressing a party workers’ meeting at Uchipulli near here, he said Ms. Sitharaman “humiliating” Mr. Panneerselvam deserved condemnation. Mr. Raja was the second AIADMK leader to disapprove of Ms. Sitharaman’s decision not to meet Mr. Panneerselvam.
Recently, Tamil Culture Minister Ma Foi K. Pandiarajan had criticised the Defence Minister’s action.
Referring to reports that the AIADMK had surrendered to the Modi government, Mr. Raja said the party had opposed the Centre on many issues and offered support on issues which were beneficial to the people of the State.
“We have been opposing all the anti-people policies of the BJP-led government,” he said.
The AIADMK MPs had stalled the Lok Sabha over the Cauvery water issue, he said, adding the party also opposed the Centre ‘tooth and nail’ on the issues of triple talaq and the GST, he said.
Earlier, hundreds of party volunteers took out a two-wheeler rally from Bharathi Nagar here to Uchipulli, covering more than 25 km, in a show of strength.
The party organised the rally and the workers’ meet as a counter to the rousing reception offered by the supporters of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam to their leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran, who visited Rameswaram to pay homage to former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on July 27.
The AMMK cadre were trying to create a myth about their strength and the AIADMK volunteers should remain united to thwart their moves, Mr. Raja and IT Minister M. Manikandan said.