Chennai, March 6 A hand gesture made after the seat-sharing talks with the Congress, indicating that it had been "successfully concluded," has gone viral on social media, said Chief Minister and DMK President M K Stalin.
AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami criticized Stalin's claim, stating that everything in the DMK's rule, including the safety of women and law and order, has "come to an end."
Stalin, while attending a wedding in the family of Minister for School Education Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi on March 5, said, "After finalizing an agreement with an alliance party (Congress), in a way that everyone would appreciate, I left the venue (Anna Arivalayam)."
"You would have seen the visuals of me getting into the car after finalizing the agreement, and the gesture I made by raising my hand, stating 'it's over.' That was not something I had planned. As I was walking to the car, the media personnel standing there were repeatedly asking me whether the talks were over. I responded by making that gesture and said, it is finished," the chief minister recalled.
The spontaneous hand gesture has gone viral on social media, and it is being shared to say, "everything is settled, all finished," Stalin noted.
Responding to the gesture, Palaniswami, in a social media post, said, "The chief minister, who is supposed to protect law and order, speaks with vain pride that the gesture he showed has become viral."
"In the DMK's rule, everything, including law and order, women's safety, and social justice, has come to an end," the Leader of the Opposition said.
Late on March 4 (Wednesday), at the Anna Arivalayam, the DMK and Congress finalized their seat-sharing deal for the upcoming Assembly polls, effectively putting to rest speculations that questioned the continuance of their alliance due to power-sharing demands by some within the national party. After rounds of negotiations, the DMK allocated 28 assembly seats to Congress and one Rajya Sabha seat for the March 16 biennial election.
Stalin, after taking part in the discussion, while leaving the venue, made a gesture to the media personnel, the video of which was widely shared on social media.