Coimbatore: State BJP president K Annamalai on Sunday hit out at TVK president Vijay for attacking the saffron party in the Manipur issue, asking him to develop ‘basic common sense' before speaking about issues like Manipur.
Speaking to reporters here on the day, Annamalai said Vijay should know the genesis of the Manipur issue, its history, geography of northeast India and the geopolitics surrounding the Manipur issue.
"If Vijay is ready to visit Manipur, I am ready to accompany him and give him the right picture of the Manipur issue. It's time for him to develop basic common sense since he has ventured into politics,'' Annamalai said.
If someone hopes to attract Christian and Muslim votes by targeting the BJP as a Hindutva party, they should know the BJP had won in Goa and Nagaland, where Christians are a majority, he said. "In TN too Christians and Muslims have started backing the BJP."
Annamalai then attacked VCK deputy general secretary Aadhav Arjuna, alleging that recent developments showed that the VCK was no more in the hands of Thirumavalavan. He said there were doubts if Aadhav Arjuna's remarks attacking the DMK was in fact a conspiracy hatched by the DMK itself. "People are asking if criticising the DMK and thereby getting sacked from the VCK to join another party to attack the DMK more was a conspiracy to divide anti-DMK votes.''
Referring to Aadhav's speech that ‘monarchy' in TN should be defeated in 2026, Annamalai said Aadhav's father-in-law lottery baron Santiago Martin had donated Rs500 crore to the DMK in the 2021 assembly elections through electoral bonds. "So, who brought the monarchy to power? When you became deputy general secretary, why did you meet Stalin and receive his wishes? '' Annamalai asked.
He also questioned VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan if Aadhav's criticism of the DMK was a drama. "If not, why are you not taking action on Aadhav?'' he asked. Annamalai said the book release event showed that Ambedkar was being used for politics in TN.
Annamalai then dared electricity minister V Senthilbalaji to file a case against him for levelling corruption charges against him (Senthilbalaji).