DMK ‘of the family, for the family, by the family’: BJP on Udhayanidhi’s rise

The BJP on Sunday hit out at the DMK over the elevation of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi as the state’s deputy chief minister, alleging that the party’s sole focus is on corruption and the progress of its first family.

The BJP’s reaction came after DMK leader V Senthil Balaji, accused in a money-laundering case, was sworn in as a minister and Udhayanidhi was designated as the deputy chief minister of the state.

Udhayanidhi was the Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development till now. Now he has also got the portfolio of Planning and Development apart from becoming Stalin’s deputy.

Also read: Udhayanidhi Stalin is TN Deputy Chief Minister; 4 ministers sworn in

“With this, one thing is very clear — that this party is of the family, for the family and by the family. They are a private limited paarivarik (family) company. Therefore, father, then son, then grandson (succeed) and it keeps going on,” BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla remarked.

Family first for INDIA bloc: BJP

He also targeted the Congress, the RJD, the Samajwadi Party and other constituents of the INDIA bloc and alleged that all these parties only care about the family of their leadership.

“The entire INDI Alliance is like this (DMK). Bharstachar (corruption) and parivaar (family) are the two pillars of these parties. For them, family is first, not the nation,” Poonawalla charged.

The BJP spokesperson said that while former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, NCP(SP)’s Sharad Pawar, and DMK chief Stalin want their children or other close relatives to rise, Samajwadi Party chief late Mulayam Singh Yadav also wanted his son Akhilesh Yadav to rise.

Also read: Udhayanidhi Stalin: Rapid rise of a 'reluctant' DMK scion in TN politics

They only care about the rise of their sons and daughters, not the sons and daughters of India, and leading their parties to “sunset”, he charged. “It’s only Prime Minister Narendra Modi who cares about the sons and daughters of the country,” Poonawalla asserted.

(With agency inputs)