DMK, BJP in war of words after Nadda dubs former a 'dynasty' party

The BJP and the DMK have got into a spat after the national president of the saffron party, J.P. Nadda termed the DMK a 'Dynasty party. The DMK retorted with the party mouthpiece, ' Murasoli saying the BJP has several dynasties in its fold and cited the names of many leaders who have a political lineage and background.

Nadda, who was on a tour of the state, termed the ruling DMK a 'dynasty' party while addressing a public meeting at Palladam in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday. Nadda said, "DMK is the dynastic rule. It is the family rule. You can't imagine anyone from outside the family becoming a leader in the DMK."

'Murasoli', in a hard-hitting article on Friday mentioned the names of several BJP leaders who have a political background with the saffron party across the country. It cited the example of Union I&B Minister, Anurag Singh Thakur whose father Prem Kumar Dhumal was a BJP Chief Minister, Piyush Goyal whose father late V.P. Goel was a BJP leader and Union Shipping Minister, Dushyant Singh, son of Vasundhara Raje Scindia, former Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Pankaj Singh, son of Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Abhishek Singh, son of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh.

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The party mouthpiece also said that there are several other BJP leaders on the list and that it was not mentioning the names of everyone due to space constraints.

R.S. Bharathy, state organising secretary of the DMK, told IANS, "The BJP has failed in Tamil Nadu even after seriously trying to make inroads by piggy-backing on the AIADMK. Nothing happened and the allegations against the DMK have come out due to the frustration of J.P Nadda. The DMK is a political party which has a cadre base and one cannot one fine morning become a leader in our party, he or she has to come from the grassroots to become a leader."

The BJP leadership said that its national president's statement has clearly upset the DMK and that the ruling party of Tamil Nadu was making baseless allegations.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader M.R. Rajendran told IANS: "The BJP president had told the truth and the DMK cannot digest it. If not a dynasty party, what is the DMK? I am not taking any names but people know what is that party and what its background is. You cannot compare it with the BJP which has a collective leadership and in certain cases due to the grassroots popularity of some leaders, the party would have promoted some leaders but ultimately the BJP is a political party that practices inclusive politics and draws opinion from all corners."

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The BJP is trying to enter Tamil Nadu in a big way and the party is expecting to do much better in the days to come. The urban local body polls are slated for end-December or early January 2022. The BJP wants to make a mark in these polls as it received a drubbing in the recent village panchayat elections held in nine districts.

R. Padmanaban, Director, Socio-Economic Development Foundation, a think tank based out of Madurai, while speaking to IANS said, "DMK has to retort to BJP in this manner or else it would affect the morale of the party cadres. More than that the points raised by the DMK are valid and the BJP does not have an answer. It is true that the BJP has not yet understood the pulse of Tamil Nadu or rather the Dravida movements. If the BJP wants to achieve something, they have to first understand the Tamil society and making allegations that the DMK is a dynastic party won't do. The BJP could have raised other issues like the failure of the Stalin government to implement several promises in the election manifesto instead of using the dynasty tag. The DMK has exposed the BJP on this as the saffron party does not have an answer to what 'Murasoli' has written."

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