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The Hindu
The Hindu
National
The Hindu Bureau

INDIA front has lost 5% of its vote share after Udhayanidhi’s comments on ‘Sanatana dharma’, claims Annamalai

BJP State president K. Annamalai on Monday, September 24, 2023 claimed Tamil Nadu Sports Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin’s call to eradicate ‘Sanatan dharma’ had eroded 5% of the vote share of the opposition-led INDIA bloc across the country.

“He (Udhayanidhi) should continue to speak like this in the days to come so that this alliance will lose for sure at least 20% of its votes,” Mr. Annamalai contended while interacting with journalists at Thoothukudi airport en route to Tenkasi district to start his second leg of his ‘En Mann, En Makkal’ roadshow.

According to him, people, who had backed the DMK in the previous elections, would never repeat it if Chief Minister M.K. Stalin dared to seek votes by highlighting his ‘achievements’ in the past two years. The Tamils had been hit hard by rampant corruption in all government departments, he alleged. Hence, Mr. Stalin was highlighting the Opposition’s electoral alliance, INDIA, for fetching votes, which would eventually become the biggest failure, he believed.

“Like Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who had to face the legal consequences for his comments on ‘Modi community’, Mr. Udhayanidhi will face the wrath of the people,” he said. He was of the view that the NDA would win more than 400 Lok Sabha seats next year.

He accused “DMK goondas” of methodically murdering the BJP functionaries. While a youth wing functionary was murdered in Palayamkottai, four members of a family including BJP worker Mohanraj of Palladam were hacked to death by drunkards.

“While the police’s pistols and the lathis are in deep slumber, the machetes of criminals are ruling the roads to unleash terror everywhere. The prime reason behind this menace is liquor, the Stalin-led government’s source of revenue,” he charged.

According to him, the BJP alone could reconstruct southern Tamil Nadu by ensuring industrial investments in the “10 poorly developed districts”.

As he arrived at Pottalpudur near Kadayam in Tenkasi district on Monday evening to start his second phase of the ‘yatra’, the BJP cadre gave a rousing welcome to him. After walking from Pottalpudur to Kadayam, Mr. Annamalai addressed a gathering from a vehicle near Tenkasi new bus-stand.

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