Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai dubs DMK ‘evil force’; alleges surveillance targeting him

PTI, Apr 12, 2024, 9:20 AM IST

Image source: ANI / File

Coimbatore: It is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantee to save the people of Tamil Nadu from the “evil force” that is the ruling DMK, state BJP president K Annamalai said on Thursday and alleged phone tapping and that he is under the surveillance of state intelligence.

Asked about Chief Minister M K Stalin posing 23 questions, including on NEET exemption for Tamil Nadu, Annamalai told reporters that it is Modi’s guarantee to bring to book the corrupt politicians belonging to ‘Gopalapuram’, a reference to the DMK.

He said it is Modi’s guarantee to save the people of Tamil Nadu from the “evil force” that is the ruling DMK and to do away with “family rule” in the state.

It is Modi’s guarantee to rein in those who speak the language of “separatism”, Annamalai said, without elaborating further.

Alleging “extensive surveillance” and “phone tappings” in Tamil Nadu by police intelligence wing, Annamalai claimed that he, his family members, friends and even the ‘press’ are under the gaze of intelligence officials.

In Coimbatore, an intelligence surveillance unit has been set up to monitor him, his party office-bearers and supporters.

Following the 2024 LS polls, “each and every officer has to provide answers,” he said and slammed the DMK regime as “draconian.”

It is not an easy task to do “politics against the DMK.”

Annamalai alleged that even industrialists who welcomed him with garlands are being intimidated based on intelligence inputs. An educational institution that he visited had to face power cuts, he alleged.

“Is this democracy? Does the state have a honest regime?”

Asked about AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami’s query on April 10 if people would vote for BJP leaders if they merely held road shows in Tamil Nadu without implementing beneficial schemes, Annamalai dared the former chief minister to hold road shows, saying people will not gather for leaders of Dravidian parties.

Annamalai remarked that people are not ready to gather for the leaders of Dravidian parties, including AIADMK chief Palaniswami. The BJP regards road shows as trips by leaders for people’s ‘darshan’ (‘Makkal Darisana Yatra’); “how is this wrong?” he asked.