Chennai, April 9 AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday lashed out at Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin for his "Amit Shah DMK" remark and sought to know what was wrong in meeting the Union Home Minister.
He claimed that the DMK leadership was getting rattled whenever he called on 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 has made the party named after Dravidian stalwart C N Annadurai as "Amit Shah DMK".
The AIADMK general secretary claimed that DMK deputy general secretary Kanimozhi was being made to criticise him at her poll campaigns. "She was apparently told to set 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 criticise me. We have seen your father," Palaniswami said.
He alleged that Kanimozhi doesn't have any work in the party. He had staged agitations at the instruction of the party high command but was never jailed for corruption.
The former chief minister cautioned Kanimozhi to show restraint in criticising him and remarked that the 2G spectrum scam case was still pending (in appeal).
On the alliance with the BJP, Palaniswami said political alliances in Tamil Nadu frequently changed for electoral victories, with parties shifting between AIADMK and DMK fronts. He displayed a photo of late Chief Minister M Karunanidhi with BJP's iconic leader Vajpayee.
In Erode, while addressing a poll campaign, DMK MP Kanimozhi claimed that AIADMK general secretary "betrayed" Tamil Nadu by forming an alliance with the BJP.
"He is betraying his own party, converting it into Amit Shah DMK. Palaniswami asks whether Amit Shah is a Pakistani. Can a Pakistani become home minister of India?" the DMK deputy general secretary asked and claimed that after the election, Palaniswami was likely to be made a governor.
"What's 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, responding to Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin's charge.
Displaying a photo at his election campaign throughout the state, Udhayanidhi said Palaniswami fell at the feet of V K Sasikala, a close aide of late CM J Jayalalithaa.
Palaniswami said that he came up in the party ranks through hard work, and not like those from the Karunanidhi family who occupied high positions only because they were born in that family.
The former chief minister said he was prepared to respond if Udhayanidhi criticised the AIADMK rule. "But you can't say anything because there are no faults to find. People consider the AIADMK governance as the golden rule," he added.