india

Updated: Sep 05, 2019 19:50 IST

A senior leader of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on Thursday claimed that the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president MK Stalin was going soft on the BJP after the arrest of former FM P Chidambaram. The claim came on a day a senior leader of BJP praised Stalin’s leadership qualities in public on Thursday, sparking buzz about a possible change in Tamil Nadu’s political dynamics. The AIADMK is an ally of the BJP.

AIADMK’s senior leader and TN Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar on Thursday said he had spotted a change in Stalin approach towards the BJP.

“Stalin has changed his attitude after the arrest of Congress leader P Chidambaram. Stalin might have thought that the central agencies could target him after Chidambaram. Therefore, he has softened his hard stance against BJP and has developed a soft-corner for the national party,” claimed Jayakumar.

The AIADMK minister also said that “though the DMK president is afraid of BJP, he wants to hide his fears and thus only issued a general statement against the one-nation one-ration card policy. Anybody who reads that statement of Stalin can easily understand that unlike in the past, he was not blaming it on (BJP),” Jayakumar told the media.

Meanwhile, CP Radhakrishnan, a senior BJP leader said to be the front-runner for the next state unit president’s post after Tamilisai Sounderrajan’s elevation as Telanagana Governor also publicly showered praised on Stalin. The DMK leader has proved that he is a ‘commander’, Radhakrishnan said. Stalin is commonly referred to as ‘Thalapathi’ or ‘commander’ by partymen.

“After Karunanidhi, it is only Stalin who has defeated us in the recent Lok SAbha elections and proved himself as a commander. We have to learn more from Stalin,” the former BJP MP said at a family function of a DMK leader on Thursday.

Stalin, who was present at the same function, reacted cautiously to praise from the BJP leader. “It was not DMK that defeated the BJP but the people of Tamil Nadu who had done so,” he said.

Reacting to BJP leader’s praise and Stalin’s response, TKS Elangovan, DMK spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP told HT that there was no change of stance in DMK’s approach towards BJP.

“After the arrest of P Chidambaram only, our leader Stalin has criticised the overall slowdown and economic uncertainty. I guess the AIADMK minister is not regularly reading our leader’s statements. We have strongly condemned Chidambaram’s arrest as well as we are continuously urging the PM to address the economic uncertainty,” Elangovan told HT.

RS Bharathi, the DMK organising secretary and RS MP also concurred with his Rajya Sabha colleague saying that DMK has been criticising the abrogation of Article 370 and Triple Talaq bill.

“The DMK objected to the retraction of Article 370 in Kashmir. We firmly opposed Triple Talaq bill. We are criticising the BJP on policy. It seems the AIADMK wants us (DMK) to slam BJP every day needlessly. But, we will not oblige,” Bharathi told HT.

Bharathi insisted that too much should not be read into CP Radhakrishnan’s public appreciation of Stalin, which only reflected the political maturity of the BJP leader.

BJP state secretary Karu Nagarajan also concurred, describing it as an act of political decency when rivals meet.

“As the DMK president was also present on the dais, our leader has expressed a token of appreciation,” Nagarajan told HT.

The BJP leader, however, declined to comment on the AIADMK’s barb hurled at Stalin.

Political analyst S Selvaraj said that while the statements were not necessarily an indication of immediate political realignment, it was an interesting development.

“Jayakumar is not merely saying that DMK has softened its stance towards BJP. The minister is saying that DMK toned down its attack only after the arrest of Chidambaram. It means Jayakumar wants to convey that DMK is afraid of BJP,” he noted.