Chennai, April 9 AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday criticized Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin for his "Amit Shah DMK" remark and questioned why it was wrong to meet the Union Home Minister.
He claimed that the DMK leadership was getting agitated whenever he met Amit Shah.
"Is Amit Shah from Pakistan? What is wrong with meeting the Union Home Minister?" Palaniswami asked during his election campaign in Royapuram, here, in support of party candidate and former state Minister D Jayakumar.
Addressing a poll rally in Cuddalore on April 7, the Chief Minister mocked Palaniswami for "surrendering" Tamil Nadu's rights to the BJP and claimed that Palaniswami had renamed the party after Dravidian leader C N Annadurai as "Amit Shah DMK".
The AIADMK general secretary claimed that DMK deputy general secretary Kanimozhi was being made to criticize him at her poll campaigns. "She was apparently told to create a narrative that I will become governor after the elections... your elder brother in Madurai has been sidelined in the party. They are using you to criticize me. We have seen your father," Palaniswami said.
"What is wrong in falling at Amma's (late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa) feet to get her blessings. It was she who made me what I am," Palaniswami said. His comments came in response to Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin's criticism that Palaniswami fell at the feet of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's close aide Sasikala.
He also said that he rose to prominence in the party through hard work, and not like those from the Karunanidhi family who occupied high positions only because they were born into that family.
The former chief minister said he was prepared to respond if Udhayanidhi criticized the AIADMK rule. "But you can't say anything because there are no faults to find out. People consider the AIADMK governance as the golden rule," he added.