The political rivalry between the ruling DMK and the BJP has now spilled on to a different platform: the chessboard. On Wednesday, a day before the 44th edition of the Chess Olympiad that Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate in Chennai, BJP workers went around the city pasting photographs of the Prime Minister on billboards advertising the tournament. On Wednesday, the BJP state leadership, upset that the billboards and banners only featured Chief Minister M K Stalin and the Olympiad's veshti-adorning mascot Thambi, sent out teams of workers across the city, armed with the PM's posters, generous amounts of glue – and cameras to capture the moment. The BJP leaders said the billboards without the PM's photographs were an “insult to the nation” since it was Modi, they insisted, who had provided Tamil Nadu the opportunity to hold the international event near Mamallapuram, around 58 kilometres south of Chennai. "Let me remind CM @stalin that our PM @narendramodi Avl is the nation's sole representative. Here we go!!!," tweeted BJP office bearer Amar Prasad Reddy while sharing a video that has snatches of him pasting the PM's posters on billboards across the city. The DMK, however, insisted that its moves were well thought out. "When India was considered as a destination for this Chess Olympiad, no other Indian state expressed interest. At that point, Chief Minister M K Stalin offered to host the event here. Stalin announced a Rs-100-crore fund and said that he wants Chennai to host the Olympiad as Tamil Nadu has chess champions such as Vishwanathan Anand. Because it is an international event, the country's Prime Minister was invited. Otherwise, the Union government has no stake in it, they cannot take credit here,” said DMK spokesperson R Rajiv Gandhi. Amid the frenzy over the Olympiad, the BJP has been sulking about the DMK walking away with the credit for hosting the event. Two days ago, about 10 BJP supporters had walked out of a torch-rally meeting in Coimbatore because the officials and organisers had not mentioned PM Modi in their speeches. A teaser video for the world's largest chess tournament, unveiled by superstar Rajinikanth last week, had also got the BJP's goat for prominently featuring Stalin – flanked by dancers and walking in slow-mo on a gigantic chessboard, along with A R Rahman. The video had prompted K Annamalai, the BJP state president, to ask the CM to stick to governance rather than “acting”. Annamalai also wanted to know why chess champion Viswanathan Anand hadn't been featured in the video. The DMK has been one of the staunchest rivals of the BJP, with Stalin often making it a point to underline Tamil identity and exceptionalism, and accusing the Centre of trying to push a national identity. Modi's visits to Chennai and Tamil Nadu have been fraught with tension with “Go Back Modi” campaigns featuring prominently on social media.
