BJP says it is wrong to link party with Alagiri


Coimbatore: BJP in Tamilnadu yesterday said it was wrong to draw any link between the party and former chief minister M Karunanidhi’s son M K Alagiri, whose remarks have indicated a possible succession war in the DMK.

State unit General Secretary Vanathi Srinivasan dismissed talk that BJP was behind Alagiri, expelled from DMK in 2014, taking on his younger brother and party working president M K Stalin.

“It has become a routine to blame BJP for each and everything happening in Tamilnadu and it is wrong to link BJP and Alagiri,” she told reporters here on the sidelines of an event where the party launched a drive to mobilise relief material for flood-hit people of Kerala.

Srinivasan comments come on a day when DMK deputy general secretary Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan accused the BJP of trying to “divide the party”.

Jagadeesan made the remark at the DMK Executive Meeting in Chennai, where party leaders paid rich tributes to Karunanidhi, who passed away on 7 August, and rallied behind Stalin.

She also stressed on unity in the party for its well-being. A day ahead of the meeting, Alagiri had claimed that all loyal party workers were with him and accused Stalin of blocking his return to the DMK and selling party posts.

Srinivasan said even when Kamala Hassan launched his new political party, people said BJP was behind it.

The BJP leader also rejected charges that the BJP was behind the decision of the Tamilnadu government not to provide a place on the Marina Beach in Chennai for the burial of Karunanidhi.