CHENNAI: Signalling that manoeuvres to bring Vijay’s TVK into the NDA either did not materialize or were mere speculations, both AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and BJP state president Nainar Nagenthran hit out at TVK’s Aadhav Arjuna for his remarks on Rajinikanth.
The fact that the reactions from the top two leaders of the NDA in Tamil Nadu came four days after Aadhav made remarks added credence to the speculations of behind-the-screen negotiations to expand the NDA by preventing Vijay from splitting the anti-DMK votes. During a TVK protest last Thursday, Aadhav had claimed that Rajinikanth quit politics because of “threats from the DMK family.”
Emphasising that he was not being critical of the veteran actor, he, however, drew a parallel between him and Vijay and said, “But I want to register that our leader (Vijay) has that mental strength,”.
Palaniswami, on Monday, termed the remarks as an act of political indecency that tarnished the reputation of Rajinikanth. In a post on X, without mentioning Aadhav’s name, he said, the actor was respected by people across political lines and had earned the affection of late AIADMK leaders MG Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa.
He said since Rajinikanth had already explained his reasons for staying away from politics, those reasons should be respected. Nagenthran, in a statement, said, neither the fans of Rajinikanth nor the people of Tamil Nadu will forgive Aadhav’s remarks. He said he expected Vijay to ask Aadhav to apologize for the remarks, but that had not happened.