BJP chief J P Nadda affirms party's alliance with AIADMK for Tamil Nadu assembly polls
Madurai, Jan 30: BJP national president J P Nadda on Saturday said his party's alliance with the AIADMK would continue for the assembly elections, due in Tamil Nadu in a few months.
Both parties would face the polls together, he said, addressing a public meeting here, in his first assertion over the alliance in Tamil Nadu.
Assembly elections in the state are expected in April or early May and the two parties had faced the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as allies, with the DMDK and PMK besides others being the other constituents of the coalition.
Clad in dhoti and sporting a traditional 'angavastram,' over his shoulder, Nadda said, "I would like to share with you and declare here that the BJP has decided that in the coming times in the elections, BJP, alongwith AIADMK and like minded parties, we will be going for the elections."
The AIADMK has "regional aspirations" and at the same time, the Tamil Nadu's ruling party stood for assimilation with national aspirations.
Be it under the leadership of AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran or the late party supremo, "Amma Jayalalithaa ji," the AIADMK had all along batted for regional aspirations and the party also was for assimilation with national aspirations, he noted.
"Tamil Nadu needs (national) mainstreaming and it is possible only with the BJP," he said adding the issues facing the state could be addressed with the support of his party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership.
Seeking people's political and social support, he said protection of Tamil culture is possible only with the saffron party alongside 'mainstreaming.'
"Take care of Kamalam (lotus, the BJP symbol) and Kamalam is going to take care of development of Tamil Nadu."
Praising Modi for his dynamic leadership, Nadda said the PM has taken good care of development in Tamil Nadu, and the entire nation in all fronts; be it COVID-19 management, vaccination or security at the borders.
Modi facilitated projects including the defence corridor for Tamil Nadu while the state was 'ignored' during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance regime, he said.
Hailing Tamil as the world's oldest language, Nadda, who is here on a one day visit, said when the right person assumed the right place, it led to right decisions.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed the top office, a 'safe destiny' was assured for the nation and Tamil Nadu as well, he said.
Be it projects like the defence corridor or allocation of funds for Tamil Nadu, the situation changed only after the BJP came to power at the Centre, he said.
Nadda recalled that Modi had quoted a couplet from 'Tirukkural' to soldiers at Ladakh and also cited the Prime Minister's 'Yaadum Oorey' reference of Tamil poet Kaniyan Poongundranar in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in 2019.
Dwelling on Tamil, he said the Tamil people had a unique combination of entrepreneurship, economic and cultural ethos.
The BJP top leader's Tamil pitch assumes significance as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had some days back alleged that the saffron party had no respect for south Indian language and culture.
Nadda praised Madurai as a 'pious land,' home of Goddess Meenakshi and recalled the link the temple city has with Mahatma Gandhi, who decided to use only dhoti during his visit here.
BJP Tamil Nadu unit chief L Murugan said it was his party's 'Vetri Vel' yatra that prompted DMK president M K Stalin to 'hold a Vel' days ago.
'Vel' is the spear-like weapon of Lord Muruga and the saffron party had last year held a 'Vel yatra' in Tamil Nadu.
Accusing the DMK of double standards, Murugan alleged that the then Chief Ministe M Karunanidhi was a mute spectator when Tamils were killed in 2009 in the civil war in Sri Lanka.
The party gave a standing ovation to Nadda for the AIIMS Hospital project for Madurai by the Centre.
Earlier, when the BJP national chief arrived at the venue of the public meeting, he was greeted with slogans of 'Vetri Vel, Veera Vel."
An ancient war cry, it denotes victory and valour with Lord Muruga's 'Vel.'
Nadda, who arrived here last night, was accorded a warm welcome by party cadres.
He visited the famous Meenakshi temple, garlanded a statue of freedom fighter Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar and chaired a core committee meeting of the party.
Tamil Nadu Ministers R B Udhayakumar and Sellur Raju called on Nadda, according to the party, which described it as a courtesy visit.
The top leader in the core panel meet deliberated on constituencies in Tamil Nadu with winning chances and asked the state leadership to focus more on such segments.
He also addressed social media volunteers and interacted with noted personalities who joined the party recently.
On Sunday, the BJP chief would visit Puducherry.
Former public works minister and ex-Congress leader from the union territory, A Namasivayam, had joined the saffron party days ago in Delhi.
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
