3 min readChennaiSep 10, 2022 06:34 AM IST
First published on: Sep 9, 2022 at 06:21 PM IST
A tweet by Dharmapuri MP and junior DMK leader S Senthil Kumar about the possibility of three AIADMK leaders joining the DMK has started a war of words between the top leaders of the two rival parties in the state Edappadi K Palaniswami and M K Stalin.
Kumar’s tweet on August 31 was written in emojis. His tweet loosely translates to “Next”, followed by three two-leaved emojis (AIADMK’s symbol), an emoji that says soon and shows an arrow and then an emoji of a rising sun (DMK’s symbol).
When asked about Kumar’s claim that three AIADMK leaders, or some assumed it as AIADMK MLAs, were talking with DMK, Palaniswami on Wednesday said 10 DMK MLAs are also in talks with AIADMK. “Ten DMK MLAs are in talks with us. Then what?” he said.
In reply to this, on Friday, Stalin called Palaniswami a comedian while speaking at the wedding of the son of Commercial Taxes Minister P Moorthy. Stalin said Palaniswami is putting up a comedy show while DMK is working to make Tamil Nadu the best state in every way.
“He said that DMK MLAs are talking to him. Even MLAs from the AIADMK don’t talk to him,” Stalin said. “When your own MLAs don’t talk to you, you try to convince people that our MLAs are talking to you,” he said.
“Since J Jayalalithaa’s death, the AIADMK has lost every election. The party is now led by two different groups, EPS and OPS (Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam). The chief post that EPS has in AIADMK right now is only temporary. How can someone with a temporary job in his party criticise another party?” Stalin said.
He added, “EPS puts up these comedies to show that he is still alive. We don’t care about things like that. I don’t care about the lies that others tell and I don’t have time to think about them.”
Although nothing is impossible in politics, AIADMK and DMK camps said the ongoing claims and counter claims don’t have much meaning. Sources in both the camps said there may be talks, feelers sent or informal invites etc but Kumar’s claim and Palaniswami’s counterclaim and Stalin’s response were all triggered “from a single tweet that should have been either avoided or others should have taken it lightly”, said party insiders.
Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin (File Photo) 
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