No alliance with BJP, matter will be decided during elections, says AIADMK leader
Chennai (PTI): Strains between the AIADMK and BJP seemed to have reached a flashpoint on Monday when a senior leader of the Dravidian party said there was no alliance with the saffron organisation and that any decision on a poll pact will be decided only during the election.
Senior AIADMK leader D Jayakumar, lashing out at BJP state chief K Annamalai for his criticism of Dravidian stalwart C N Annadurai, said his party workers will not tolerate any affront to the late chief minister.
He said while Annamalai had made critical remarks about AIADMK leaders including the late J Jayalalithaa, the party had sought that the BJP leader be restrained.
"Annamalai doesn't desire alliance with AIADMK although BJP workers want it. Should we tolerate all this criticism of our leaders. Why should we carry you? BJP can't set foot here. Your vote bank is known. You are known because of us," the former minister told reporters here while lashing out at the BJP and its state unit president.
"We can't tolerate anymore (the criticism of leaders). As far as alliance is concerned, it is not there. BJP is not with AIADMK. (the matter) can be decided only during election. This is our stand," he said.
Asked if this was his personal opinion, Jayakumar said, "Have I ever spoken to you in that capacity? I only talk what the party decides."
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
