Salem. All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) general secretary and Leader of Opposition in Tamil Nadu Assembly E.K. Palaniswami on Sunday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ruling DMK in the state were “pretending” to be rivals but they were in collusion.
Taking a dig at the ruling DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) over the Karunanidhi centenary commemorative coin release programme, he questioned Chief Minister MK Stalin’s claim that it was a central government programme. Palaniswami reiterated that the state government had organised the programme.
“The invitation letter I received has the logo of the state government. The state chief secretary has issued it. It was a state government programme,” he told reporters here. Without naming anyone, he said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Minister L Murugan and state BJP chief K Annamalai and some other party leaders attended the event held last week.
Palaniswami said the DMK was part of the ‘India’ alliance, but neither Congress’ Sonia Gandhi, nor her son Rahul Gandhi nor other party leaders were invited to the event. He alleged that the DMK was trying to save its ‘corrupt government’ in the state by ensuring the Centre’s support.
Responding to a question, he alleged that the BJP and the DMK were acting as if they were rivals. “From the outside it looks like they are rivals. But the DMK and the BJP are in collusion,” he said. He wondered what action had been taken against the Stalin government despite a “list of corruption” against the government being submitted to the governor.