Son of patriarch MK Stalin and Tamil Nadu’s very own version of Rahul Gandhi –Udhayanidhi Stalin once again invited controversy to his gate by wearing a shirt with party symbol while casting his vote yesterday during the first and final phase of the assembly elections. In a letter to the Election Commission (EC), R.M. Babu Murugavel, AIADMK’s joint secretary of the advocates wing, stated that Mr Udhayanidhi Stalin’s act was against election rules and punishable under law. He wanted the CEO to have a case filed against the DMK’s nominee and disqualify him.
However, the poll panel remarked that the symbol engraved on Udhayanidhi’s shirt was not DMK’s official party symbol but of DMK youth wing. The party scion is currently the secretary of the DMK youth and is making his electoral debut from the party stronghold of Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni where his grandfather M Karunanidhi contested from thrice before shifting to Thiruvarur. However, in the lead up to the elections, Udhayanidhi has been making the news headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Reported by TFI, DMK’s spoilt child, Udhayanidhi, earlier this week made some distasteful and insensitive remarks against the departed BJP leaders such as Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
During a DMK roadshow at Dharapuram, Stalin’s son accused the PM of ‘killing’ the late BJP veteran leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. An unhinged Udhayanidhi claimed that the two BJP stalwarts died due to ‘torture’ and ‘pressure’ exerted by PM Modi. “There was a person called Sushma Swaraj. She died due to the pressure exerted by Modi. There was a person called Arun Jaitley. He died due to the torture by Modi.” said the DMK scion.
ECI secretary Malay Mallick issued a notice to Udhayanidhi who is the DMK candidate in Chepauk-Triplicane constituency. Mallick said this was a violation of Clause (2) of Part -1 of the Model Code of Conduct that came into effect in in Tamil Nadu on February 27. The EC has sought an explanation on his statement and asked him to submit it, on or before 5pm today.
Udhayanidhi is not the only DMK leader who has crossed the line during the election rallies. Reported by TFI, DMK’s corruption ‘Hall-of-Famer’ A Raja stirred a fresh round of controversy last month by making obscene and vile remarks against current Tamil Nadu CM and AIADMK leader Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS).
In a video that has since went viral on the social media platforms, Raja could be seen comparing DMK chief MK Stalin to EPS and drawing an analogy that Stalin was a true leader as he was born of pure blood and by legitimate means whereas “EPS was like a premature baby born out of an illegitimate relationship.
Raja did not stop foul-mouthing EPS and continued with his verbal diarrhoea by comparing CM EPS’ worth to MK Stalin’s ‘slippers.’ “Till the other day, Edappadi Palaniswami worked in jaggery market, how can he be competition to Stalin? The value of Stalin’s chappal is more than you by one rupee. And he dares Stalin to challenge him?”
Unlike West Bengal, the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu were completed in a single phase on April 6. According to chief electoral officer Satyabrata Sahoo, the state recorded 71.79 per cent voter turnout with the Kallakurichi district topping the list with 78 percent turnout. BJP and AIADMK have gone into the polls as a coalition and according to the arrangement, BJP contested from 20 seats while AIADMK fielded its candidates on 178 seats.
A tough fight is expected between AIADMK and DMK, with several other new faces such as Kamal Hassan and his party Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) and the newly-forged alliance between TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) and Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), expected to spice up the competition.